Wild Masquerade: Revelations
by TheMagiSpirit
Summary: {An SYOC Fairy Tail Guild} Just like a masquerade ball, the enigmatic members of this guild have always concealed their faces and their identities, but what are they hiding from? Distrusted by the public and hidden within the society they strive to protect, they battle on! Dark secrets and shocking revelations abound for the mages of Wild Masquerade.
1. Prologue: Death and Life

**A/n:** This story beings in the months after the X791 Grand Magic Games/Eclipse arc. There won't be any canon interaction as of yet, so assume events thereafter will be ignored.

 **#The following has been revised since I first published it. I wasn't terribly happy with a couple of things, so some scenes have been altered, only slightly, and some spelling/grammar stuff changed. The OC form has changed a little too, but only to add a heading or two, nothing drastic.#**

OCs Introduced:

Wyvern, Master Kami and Morph - TheMagiSpirit

* * *

 **17th August X791 - The Ruins of Old Oleander - Almost Midnight**

The wind whistled through the shattered shell of the ruined building. Overhead, the full moon cast a pale glow across the land. No animal dared venture out of their nest or burrows on a night as cold as this. And yet a middle aged woman, bundled up against the frigid air, peered around the crumbling room she found herself in. She picked her way through the fallen masonry and across the piles of rubble.

She arrived home excruciatingly late from Oleander market. Next time, she decided, she'd think twice about helping so many people in need. Arms laden with bags upon bags of groceries, she'd arrived home to find the note taped to her front door. Even before her eyes had scanned the final word, she'd turned from the house and broken into as fast a sprint as she could manage. Food spilled across the cobblestones. A cat screeched.

With her mind on overload, she made light work of the short trip up to the ruins of the old town. She could barely feel the pulse pounding in her ears.

"If you're here… I, I have the ransom you asked for." She held out a sizable bag of stuff full of jewel. "N-now give me back my son! Please..."

I'm such a fool, she thought. What if…? What if he…? What if…?!

How had they taken him? She should have been watching. She should have been paying more attention. She should have taken him shopping... All it took was a moment of misjudgement to tear a family apart. But that wasn't all that crossed her mind.

She wanted to be strong. She wanted to take control of the situation, but one thought sang out in her mind more than the others. What if she upset the kidnappers? To have your child's death on your hands… No. Now was not the time to think like that. She'd played their game to the letter and they had to appreciate that.

The thwip of a bow string cracked her reverie, cutting her thought short. A sharp pain blossomed her shoulder like something had dropped from the rotten rafters and bitten her. Hands shaking, she looked down. An arrow with a growing red lacrima tip stuck out from just below her collarbone.

"Why...?" She croaked and gasped. Her mouth felt suddenly dry.

"Anti-link: Activate," said a cool male voice.

The woman's eyes widened when she realized what was happening. A crimson magic circle burst from the arrow head. She couldn't see her assailant, but she didn't have to. "You're not after money… You want the..."

"Took you long enough to figure it out," said the Archer.

Once-invisible lines of magic script revealed themselves across her skin, head to toe, before unfurling and shattering. Whatever the organic link magic had represented it had been wiped out by the anti-link arrow.

"Incidentally, since you can't do anything about it," he said as the woman fell to her knees clutching her wound. "Your son is fine. I sent him on an errand. He's very trusting of strangers. You probably should have taught him better…"

"You… You won't get away with this." She coughed blood into her hand. Breathing felt impossible now but she'd stand up for what she believed in. To her very last breath. She had a promise to keep. "It can't be broken. It won't-"

"I'm afraid that's something we'll have to disagree on."

Life slipped from her with sickening finality. She slumped to the ground without another sound.

The Archer cackled at the woman's plight. He didn't need to kill anyone, technically, but he'd done what he came to do. Nothing else mattered but clearing the mission…

And making sure no one talked.

He took a list of fourteen names from his pocket, and crossed off the late mother with a strike of his magic. "Nine to go… Then we're coming for you, Masquerade!"

* * *

 **19th August X791 - Guild hall**

A green haired young man, barely a teenager, sat with his bare back against a fallen tree, the shadow of the guild hall of Wild Masquerade shading him from the heat of the sun.

Midday. He was hungry.

In his right hand he clutched a hand carved wooden bowl full to the brim with what looked like a salad. On closer inspection the rather ad hoc bowl contained a collection of oak leaves, a few ferns and a generous helping of bark 'croutons'. Using his teeth to flip open the lid on a bottle of mayonnaise, he coated his 'salad' in it's contents before chowing down.

He wore only a tough pair of shorts, no shirt, no shoes, just because he preferred it that way. He liked to feel one with nature. Didn't care why. That, and he had a tendency to trash the shoes he was given in a matter of days.

On one side of his chest was a forest green guild mark resembling a domino mask surrounded by stylized butterfly wings. It marked him as a member of Wild Masquerade, a guild so secretive it's wizards wore masks at all times. It was a guild for people who'd rather stay hidden while they practiced magic. A godsend perhaps for some of it's members.

Currently the boy's own mask was twisted to the side of his head so he could eat, pushing his shockingly green hair every which way in the process. Though crudely made of the bark of a local tree, the mask had been lovingly shaped to resemble a dragon's head with two curving horns and a pair of slanted eye holes. No one had ever accused Wyvern of being an artist. He was far too engrossed with eating to hear the approaching footsteps.

"What have I told you about that?!" Screamed a woman's voice.

Wyvern cringed. He'd been shouted at for it enough to know exactly what she meant. As he looked up he pulled his mask back into place.

An iridescent magic circle flashing into existence momentarily blinded him. Before he knew it, he was on his backside looking up at the person who'd shouted at him.

Her platinum blonde hair was basically white. Wyvern didn't know her age, and the figures he'd heard bandied about didn't sound right. He didn't care much for society's rules in the long run, but he knew you didn't ask a girl how old they were. Those were the basics.

Her expensive-looking, pale pink, off-the-shoulder ball gown had never looked so immaculate. Shrouding her entire face was an elaborate glittering masquerade mask which seemed to change colour depending on the light that hit it. It looked quite a lot like the guild's logo today.

"Sorry, Kami-chan..." he said picking himself up off the grass. "I had to eat. I didn't think it would-"

"That's Master Kami to you!" Although the tone of her voice told him she was angry, her eyes glimmered in such a way that she seemed to be on the verge of grinning.

She confused him. Greatly. Such an enigmatic woman. Smiling when she was angry and frowning when she was content. It didn't make any sense. Made him feel worn out just thinking about it. Why couldn't everybody just say and do what they meant? The world could never be such a happy place.

"Aye, I know, I know." He collected his bowl and put it to one side. "It's like you keep saying. Anyone could be watching, anywhere, at anytime."

He sighed. "Still... sounds a bit paranoid to me..."

Kami shook her head. "We all have something to hide here. You should respect that."

"I'm hardly going to let slip who I am now, am I," he said. "Not after three years."

He'd always suspected her of knowing his true identity, especially after all the times she'd caught him with his mask off, but had never had the guts to confront her about it. Besides if she were none the wiser then he wasn't about to rock the boat. Conversely he had no idea who she was. No one did. He doubted even the council knew.

Kami worked tirelessly to keep the guild and herself anonymous. She could have been anyone. She could have done anything with her past. She could be a demon, a member of the magic council, a dark wizard, a criminal.

Though her mask hid the majority of her expression, he saw her roll her eyes. "Has it been that long already?"

"Time flies when I'm running Wild," he said with a snigger.

"A little too wild if you ask me." She wasn't impressed with his pun.

"You would say that, Kami-chan." He sighed and scratched the back of his head, not quite yawning. "Ah well, what you gonna do."

"If you're not busy breaking my rules, Wyvern, I have a favour to ask," she said turning back towards the guild hall, knowing full well he wasn't busy and hadn't been for quite a few weeks now. She'd even solicited foolproof requests, one's sure to tempt him, to no avail. Something kept him stuck in the guild hall and she want to know what it was.

But first things first.

"We have some new recruits I'd like to introduce to everyone. It pains me to say this, but you've been here long enough. You should start getting more involved in guild politics."

"Do I have to?" he whined.

"What do you think?"

"Alright! I get it."

He dropped the bravado, picked up his salad and followed her towards the hall. "So, Kami-chan. What kind of wizards have you dragged up this time around?"

She didn't deem the question worthy enough of an answer. Wyvern scoffed, and decided to continue on as though she had.

"That good, huh? Must be a wild bunch."

The guild master shook her head in dismay of the youthful dragon slayer's antics. "I'm sure you'd like some of them."

It didn't matter how secretive some Wild Masquerade mages wanted to be, there were always a few who embodied the ideal of hiding in plain sight. Ninjas they were not, and Wyvern was one of them.

"I hope so," he said, oblivious of her teasing, "'cause if they're anything like that last bunch, the ones you had to kick out..."

"I'm sure none of us want a repeat of that incident," she replied, curt and short.

Neither wanted to push the matter, so they walked up the steps together and onto the rear porch in silence.

Wyvern soon broke the stalemate. "Like I said back then, taking other guilds' rejects is never a good idea. They're too used to-"

Kami lay her hand on the door knob. She slumped almost imperceptibly.

"Too used to being unmasked?"

"Hey! I said I was sorry…"

At that moment, an elderly gentleman opened the door for them. He wore a crisp fresh butler's tuxedo and no mask. Kami jumped but recovered instantly. The man didn't say a word, just locked eyes with the guild master before stepping aside.

"Thank you, Morph," she said.

Wyvern watched with a raised eyebrow. Like he hadn't seen that trick before. Morph was slacking off.

The 'old man' bowed in reply. His skin bubbled and rippled as he did, and, by the time he was upright, he'd shrunk a couple of inches to match the dragon slayer. His skin smoothed out, his hips widened, and his chest ballooned outward. Soon enough he was looking at a pretty teenage girl, not far off his age, with blonde ringlets and massive eyes the colour of the moon.

Wyvern shuddered. "You're such a weirdo."

"I know," Morph said topping off her girly new voice with a saccharine sweet giggle.

"Are you two coming or what?" called Kami.

Morph smiled and him before lifting the bottom hem of her baby blue summer dress and skipping after the guild master.

Wyvern shook his head and with a loud sigh, he followed. As much as he wanted to teach Morph a lesson, the shapeshifter could wipe the floor with him. Whoever they were behind the uninhibited, unlimited use of shapeshifter magic, they were a force to be reckoned with. A certified S-Class mage with no need for a mask. In a guild like Wild Masquerade that scared him. With a bit of luck the new recruits would be far less irritating, but, knowing Kami-chan, he could only dream.

* * *

 **19th August X791 - Oleander Town Hall - 1:25pm**

A blonde woman, dark eyes down cast for no reason other than she could, waited outside the office of Mayor Brech shrouded in her travelling cloak. The mayor of Oleander was naturally a busy man, so to be called in front of him so suddenly worried her.

Be that as it may she had a pretty good idea of what he wanted to talk to her about…

"MISS XANDER!"

She winced at the booming of his voice.

Before she could reach for the door it burst open on it's hinges. A greasy little man with slick green hair that seemed to flick up into unruly horns barrelled out into the hallway with all the grace of a poorly domesticated rhino.

"DIDN'T YOU HEAR ME?"

"Why are you shouting at me…?" Her voice held a flat tone barely above a whisper.

One could even mistake her tone for a whimper. If you didn't know her that is. Having grown up with scores of younger siblings, she knew just how to defuse potential situations. In order to be heard the obvious thing would be to scream and shout, but in the midst of her brothers and sisters she'd found the complete opposite to be much more effective.

And far more unsettling.

The real trick with the Mayor was to make him think it was his idea to calm down and get back to business.

"Hmmm... " Mayor Brech turned on his heels, overly polished shoes glinting in the lamp light. "Come in. Sit down."

Taking her typical stance of defiance, Miss Xander stood just behind the chair he'd jabbed his finger at. She place her hands on it with a feather touch, noting how ratty it was looking compared to his own.

"We have a problem, Xander."

"So it would seem, Mayor Brech."

He stared for a moment, studying her as he usually was want to do, before resuming. "I have a young man in my custody who says his mother was just murdered. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that would you?"

"You know I've just returned from a trip out of town," she replied. "How could I possibly know?"

As it so happened she'd heard rumours, bad news travelled fast, but she wanted to hear his side of the story first.

"Convenient. Yes?" He cleared his throat loudly into his handkerchief. "The boy tells me it was the work of a dark mage."

"Oh?" Miss Xander folded her arms.

"I employ you, do I not, to keep abreast of situations involving the use of magic and violations therein?"

"You do."

He stood and slammed his hands down on the desk, though it reached most of the way to his chest. "THEN TELL ME WHAT YOU KNOW!"

Using the same tone of voice as earlier she spoke slowly and surely as though measuring and weighing each word before she said it. "You employ me, near as I can tell, so you don't have to deal with the Magic Council. Of course to give me a proper title would be against their ruling, but I like to see myself as the sheriff of Oleander."

"About the flaming situation, Xander," he sighed. "Don't play game with me!"

"As it so happens I do know something about the situation." She paced to the book shelf and began scanning the spines, just to look studious. "The boy you speak of is in danger. I believe his mother's killer will soon return to finish the job."

"Danger?" Mayor Brech narrowed his eyes. "Is this something to do with that infernal guild? What are they called…? Mild Phoenix Lord?"

"Wild Masquerade. And I couldn't possibly comment."

"He's a mage isn't he..."

"I couldn't possibly comment."

He shook his head. "You rarely do, my girl. I wonder why I continue to pay you..."

"Because I get results."

The mayor snorted in vague amusement. "Aye, that you do.

"Now, you'll be wanting me to hand the young man over to you for protection, and while I'd just love to keep him a while longer," sarcasm dripped from his voice, "I see no other way of handling this whole debacle."

Miss Xander squashed a smile. "You're too kind."

"I know, dear, I know." He stood and ushered her out of the door. "One little thing, however. Well… a couple of little things actually."

She stopped in her tracks and pinched the bridge of her nose before turning back to him with a smile.

"Firstly, I want you to make sure he doesn't start hanging around with those Livid Mascarpone hoodlums." He paused as though seeking her affirmation, but continued without giving her time to reply. "Secondly, I want this to be the last I hear of this incident. Five of my citizens have already died suspiciously. Five! So let's keep it from happening again, mmkay? And I don't want to hear the words Dark Guild uttered anywhere near this town."

"They're called Wild Masquerade."

"Come again, Xander dearest?" he said, belittling her.

"Our town's guild. They're called-" She shook her head, deciding against correcting him for a third time. She often wondered whether he did it just to piss her off. No, he definitely did it to piss her off. "It doesn't matter."

The mayor smiled, revealing a few shreds of his steak lunch. "Good day then," he chirped, then slammed the office door.

Miss Xander jumped at the sudden noise. After catching her breath, she pulled her cloak back into place and made her way to the exit. The boy was a mage, in need of training, but a mage nonetheless. The best place for a young mage was a guild, hands down. Master Kami and Wild Masquerade would keep him safe, at least until she could figure out who was killing innocent Oleandans. Most importantly, she felt, they could keep him hidden. Indefinitely if necessary.

She found one mantra useful in particular for coping with such delicate matters as these: What the mayor didn't know, wouldn't kill him. And what the mayor didn't know, as always, would no doubt turn out to be a lot more than he let on.

Dark Guild… She sure hoped not.

* * *

 **A/n:** Thanks so much for reading!

I have a few rules I need you guys to take a look at before you submit:

1) I won't accept OCs via review. I can't stress this enough. Especially considering the nature of this guild.

2) I'm open to any kind of magic at the moment, but I'm likely to limit the amount of dragon/devil/god slayers to 2-3.

3) Only 2 OCs each maximum for now. This will probably change later.

4) If your OC doesn't have a code name or secret then I won't be accepting them until they do. I'm not looking for characters eager to destroy the guilds reason for existence.

5) Goes without saying, but I'll say it anyway. No mary sues, etc.

The submission form is included below.

 **Work will commence on the next part when I have enough OCs to write a proper chapter.**

 **#UPDATE: I already have a couple submissions but I could do with a few more before we get going. I don't want to disappoint you guys with a crappy, short chapter.#**

Oh and I need an OC to fill the role of the boy mentioned in the above chapter. Teenage. Specific age doesn't matter. Neither does his magic. He isn't overly strong, having only trained by himself as a hobby, but has potential buried in his anger. If you feel up to it, then go right ahead!

 **OC SUBMISSION FORM**

Codename \- _Have fun with it, this is their main identity after all._

Real name -

Age \- _12 - 50_

Gender

Personality \- _Quirky, serious, you decide. The more you write, the easier it'll be for me to grasp your character. I want to know how they tick. Every last bit. You know them, I don't. Yet! If they have any ticks (little things they do out of habit), be it physical or vocal, I'd love to hear about it too._

Strengths

Weaknesses

Relationships \- _Ideas for pairings both romantic or otherwise, friendships, the kind of people they'd form a team with, etc. Throw it all at me. I can only include what you tell me about. I reserve the right to pick and choose here, for plot reasons, but I'll always try and accommodate as much as humanly possible._

Appearance

 _Casual -_

 _Formal -_

 _Winter -_

 _Swimwear -_

Guild mark \- _The guild mark is a domino mask with stylised butterfly wings, the location and colour is up to you. Obviously._

Mask \- _Every member of the guild is required to wear a mask, either something you'd see at a masquerade ball, on a superhero, or just something that covers their identity like a pair of shades. Have fun with this one because for the most part it'll be one of the more important things regarding their appearance. Wacky is good. Simple is also good. All up to you._

History \- _Give me as much to work with here as you can. Lots of detail and an interesting back story will help me figure out a whole bunch of things to do to them… I mean with them!_

Secret \- _I want everyone to come up with a juicy little secret(s), dark or otherwise. Something the OC wants to stay hidden. This should be one of the main reasons they join Masquerade in the first place. Don't skimp on this section. It'll be a huge driving force behind your OCs plot arc. Why did it make them choose this guild and not a more mainstream one?_

Magic Type \- _I'll accept both canon magic and original magic. If you make something up be prepared for some questions from me if I don't quite get it. After all, I'll need to know the ins and outs if I'm to write it properly. I don't want an overabundance of slayers (2 to 3 at the most). It is a lost magic after all and we've already got one. Feel free to get crazy creative otherwise!_

Spells \- _2-6 spells they can use from the get go, as well as a few extras we can work in as they train and grow stronger. Again I want to work with you regarding how and when these new spell are learned. It's important to me that there's room for OCs to grow, otherwise where's the fun?_

Extra \- _Anything else you want to add? Any initial ideas pertaining to your OC?_


	2. Intro Arc - Ch01: Keep Off The Grass

**OCs Introduced:**

Amaryllis and Valin the Cat - Jenniflower89

* * *

 **20th August X792 - Wild Masquerade Guild Hall - 9:24am**

Wyvern stared at Wild Masquerade's request board. It loomed over him with its ornamental gold-leaf frame. It sat at the far end of the main hall, at the furthest point from the door, in an area mostly devoid of the usual tables and chairs.

Though no shortage of potential jobs confronted him, nothing jumped out.

There were just so many reasons to hesitate. All of them complete and utter rubbish, of course, but who wanted a fourteen year old mage accepting their job when they could have one of the older, more reliable members? Stupid thing was he knew he could do it. He knew he was plenty reliable. No problem. He'd had plenty of jobs before…

Today, like any number of days now gone by, working seemed a pointless endeavour. Kind of like sharpening a clod of mud into a rudimentary pickaxe and mining for gold.

"Oi!" Came a gruff and bizarrely small male voice, snapping him from his introspection. "Move it or lose it, kid."

" _Hey_ ," Wyvern countered, jaw set for a fight even though he didn't turn immediately. "I got as much right as any to-"

When he did drag his eyes from the board, the young forest dragon slayer found himself face to face with a girl not much older than himself. Certainly no older than fifteen. And certainly not male.

Though her figure was still delicate and childlike, it held a tangible promise in its curves of the beguiling woman she might one day become. Her dark, purple-tinted hair had straight bangs and was worn loose to mid back. She had a pair of nearly opaque welding goggles over her eyes and her t-shirt, a little dirtied with compost he noticed, bore a cute purple cat symbol on the front. Hanging from her belt, over her khaki shorts, was a small, well-used trowel with a forest green plastic handle.

Wyvern blinked. "Uh..." She was pretty. In an earthy way.

"Down here, genius," said the voice from earlier.

Wyvern dropped his eyes down past her trowel and purple leggings to a scruffy ginger tabby currently bearing his teeth. Nothing much stood out about the cat…

Bar the obvious.

"Did you just-"

"Talk?" It said, "Damn right I did. Now hop it."

The girl sighed as though the cat had pulled the same routine on at least twenty others that morning alone. "Cut it out, Valin. He's not doing any harm being there."

Valin turned his piercing cats eyes on his companion. "But Amaryllis, I don't think-"

"You hardly ever think, do you?" She snapped, causing the talking tabby to retreat backward slightly.

The purple-haired mage shook her head and resettled her bronze goggles. "You'll have to excuse, Valin. He gets a little cranky."

Wyvern blinked a couple more times. He looked back down at Valin. A mischievous grin spread across his face partially obscured by his dragon mask but still noticeable. Amaryllis tilted her head in bemused wonder.

Seconds later a shrill feline screech reverberated through the guildhall. Shortly followed by, "PUT ME DOWN, YOU IDIOT! I'M NOT FOR PETTING!"

Other guild members, until then mostly keeping to themselves, turned their heads in wonder and confusion to see Wyvern lifting the little tabby high above his head and grinning like an idiot as he spans in circles. Soon Master Kami appeared at the top of the stone staircase leading to her private apartment with an equally perplexed look showing through her now rather nebulously shaped mask. Even from that distance she could see the mischief in his eyes.

It was going to be a long day.

* * *

The guild hall sat a few miles outside of Oleander, nestled in a few acres of open long grass meadow and backing onto a decent sized forest, both of which they owned outright. While others prefered the guild itself or training in the meadow out front, said woodland was the prefered hide out of one resident dragon slayer.

If Wyvern could have just one wish granted that morning, it would be no more surprise introductions or meet-and-greets with new recruits. If he had a wish leftover he'd want to be left alone with nature. No people. No pomp, ceremony and rules. Just the grass, the trees, the dirt, the bugs and the birds. You'd have thought in a guild like theirs someone would have understood.

"I'm not even s-class. But Kami-chan has me helping out like I am… What's up with that?" He thought out loud while picking leaves almost at random and throwing them into his mouth.

He'd had no luck getting a job after all. Making a quick escape from the clutches of Valin had proved too much of a distraction, and he had yet to find the confidence to go back. Besides he didn't feel much like working anymore, so he wasn't going to. It didn't matter. Money wasn't an object when the wildness was your kitchen. Not like he had to pay for leaves.

"Stupid cat..." He grumbled. "Try to scratch me, will he? Well, just you wait!"

He looked down at the ground, nudging aside fallen debris with his bare toes. "I wonder if there's any of that dark green, prickly stuff out here. Man, those berries were ace..."

As he pondered long and hard, trying to remember where he'd last seen the plant he was after, a fine, watery mist washed over him. He frowned. It may have still been morning but the weather wasn't quite right for mist. A quick sniff of the air told him there was something funny about it all.

The mist soon hit the ground and in no time at all the very plant he'd been looking for sprouted and grew to full size before his eyes.

"You'll have to wait a few months for the berries," said Amaryllis. A light green magical aura faded from around her hands. "My Nutrient Mist is pretty useful, but it won't do miracles."

Wyvern reached out to touch the plant. He almost didn't believe it was real. He smiled in childish wonder, like seeing presents under the tree on Christmas morning. "What kind of magic is this?"

"Gardener Magic." She cleared her throat and waved her answer off as though it were nothing. "But don't worry about that."

"Pfft. I'd say it's pretty awesome." He plucked one of the tough looking fern-like leaves and nibbled it. "Even tastes like the real thing!"

Amaryllis facepalmed. "It is."

"Sure, why not."

He munched on his leaf for a second longer before realisation dawned on him that he was supposed to be angry at that girl and her stupid cat.

He turned to her with a frown. "Where's your friend then?"

Amaryllis, taken aback by Wyvern's sudden change of mood, folded her arms across her chest. "I just did you a favour and _this_ is how you repay me?" She huffed, "You've got a lot of nerve, mister."

"I- wait… what?"

"You _must_ be stupid, all things considered" she continued, "only a moron could ignore _two_ apologies and stay grumpy. Well next time I won't try so hard, will I."

"Fine," he said, stepping into her personal space.

" _Fine_."

A haughty chuckle broke their butting of heads. Valin jumped down from a nearby tree and padded over to his friend's side. He looked up at Wyvern, this time with none of the malice. "You don't really get women do you, kid?"

"Does she even count?"

With that Amaryllis' face turned bright red. She shook with anger. If steam could have shot from her ears it would have. "I'm fifteen. I'm practically a grown up! YOU'RE STILL A BOY."

"Oh you've done it now..." Valin shook his head and moved out of the way of Amaryllis' rage.

Fearing more wrath than he could be bothered to deal with was headed his way, Wyvern cut in before she got started.

"Hey, don't get all twisted up about it. Being a kid isn't so bad." He nonchalantly downed another leaf from the newly grown bush. "And if you're young, Kami-chan lets you get away with all kinds of shit for starters."

Amaryllis, all fired up with no way to vent, found herself well and truly disarmed by Wyvern. He took it all in his stride. "That's not the point..." She muttered.

"Oh sure, she's always going on about taking more responsibility and stuff, but where's the fun in that?"

She sighed in defeat, letting her body relax. She couldn't help but smile, just a little. "Moron."

"I try."

* * *

 **20th August X792 - Master Kami's Office - 9:30am**

Master Kami sat behind her large mahogany desk, face set in a frown. Her mask seemed to twitch with annoyance, and had shifted to a much darker shade of pink than normal. She huffed. "This is not a day care."

A basketball sized communication lacrima sat on the opposite end of the desk's surface. It pulsed in time with the magically altered, distorted voice coming from within.

"That's besides the point, guild master, the boy needs training. Xander believes-"

"And why can't you provide that for him?" Kami countered abruptly, cutting off the person on the other end of the lacrima before they could finish. "My guild exists for those who are lost in their darkness. For those have no other option. The boy seemed happy until now, and must have grandparents or family somewhere. Can they not care for him?"

"I don't-"

"Shall I assume you haven't checked?"

"I don't believe you're giving this situation the credit it deserves. His mother was one of the Fourteen for God's sake!"

"Be that as it may, a guild is a dangerous place," she said, her voice as sharp as a finely tempered blade. "If he has inherited the link then he should be as far away from here as possible."

"He almost certainly has..." The voice confirmed. "Please Kami, as a friend, I _implore_ you. You're the only one who can protect him now!"

The master sighed once more. "Fine. But only because you have yet to steer me wrong."

"Thank you. Truly."

"..."

The silence hung in the air. Soon the voice coughed to break the stalemate-a sound made rather more bizarre by the voice changer. "I know yo- _we_ have secrets to protect here. That's why I promise you he won't cause any trouble. He's a good kid."

"Hmm, we shall see. I guess after all these years this is still causing us trouble..."

"Indeed."

The conversation ended there and the light in the lacrima faded making the office seem almost too dim. Kami's mask slipped a shade darker.

Although she trusted her mysterious confidantes judgement, she wasn't sure she was comfortable trusting a teenage mage who'd recently lost his mother. He'd want revenge, and perhaps quite rightly so. But to be frank, any guild would have been more suitable. Someone like Sabertooth, Fairy Tail, Quatro Cerberus... Wild Masquerade existed to provide anonymous sanctuary and channel it into something meaningful. A young mage loudly marauding around the kingdom looking for his mother's murderer didn't mesh well with keeping their affairs in order.

Nevertheless, she'd been assured of his character by a good friend and that would have to do. The kid needed a place to lay low and learn some manner of control. Her enemies would come for him sooner or later and if he wasn't prepared it could spell disaster for the guild. She couldn't fault such logic despite her gut feeling.

 _He's involved whether I like it or not..._

* * *

 **20th August X792 - Wild Masquerade's Training Meadow - 9:44am**

"Hey, Wyvern?" said Amaryllis, tall meadow grass swishing about her thighs.

"What's up?" He stood with his arms behind his head, elbows outstretched, and eyes closed.

"Thanks for showing me around. I _am_ new and all" She brushed her hand through the grass, doing her best to look away. "And you didn't really have to. Especially after Valin's rudeness..."

"I heard that!" Came a voice from somewhere in the long grass.

"It's nothing." Wyvern said with a shrug.

"Oh. Only..."

Wyvern blinked. She was looking at him strangely now and he didn't understand why. "Only what?"

"This is a nice field and all," she continued, "but what exactly are we doing just standing around?"

"Taking it all in?" He knew it was a lame reason, but he often forgot people got bored just hanging around in nature. He didn't understand, not by any means, but he'd made peace with it. Some people were weird. That was that. Move on.

Valin leaped up onto his companion's shoulder, tired as he was of jumping just to see where the two young mages were. "This is the training meadow. That's what they call it round here. My guess is the kid doesn't know how to ask you to spar with him."

The tabby's sneering tone wasn't lost on Wyvern. He shot the cat a glare. "Honestly? I just wanted to let her get a feel for the place."

"Oh, sure," chuckled Valin. "A likely story."

Amaryllis smirked. "We don't usually fight… But I could break that rule just this once seeing as how you're a... _big chicken_!"

"Hey!"

"I mean, if you don't think you can beat us..." She folded her arms leaving her sentence hanging and unfinished.

"N-no," stammered Wyvern, "I'll wipe the floor with you for _sure_."

"You're not exactly filling me with confidence, kid," said Valin.

Jaw set, Wyvern adjusted his mask and the wooden guards on his arms. "Like I said, you're going down, cat."

Amaryllis attracted his attention by way of a cough. "Aren't you forgetting someone there?"

The slayer's body relaxed somewhat. His expression blanked. "Oh yeah."

She sweatdropped. "You're impossible."

"Whatever." He took a simple stance, facing her side on with one arm raised and one by his side. "Come on then. You can't get a dragon slayer fired up for nothing."

Amaryllis smiled. "Well… If I have to. Valin!"

"Aye, m'lady." The tabby nodded and jumped from her shoulders back into the grass.

" **Gardener Magic: Cactoid Shell!** " she called.

Though hard to see through the swaying of the meadow grass, roots, shoots and vines broke through the soil. They snaked upwards around Valin's paws. More and more piled on, lifting the cat into the air and forming a solid shell of plant material. Soon enough the shell grown to the size and shape of a male lion, mane, sharp claws and all.

"How's it looking now, kid?" said Valin, flexing and testing his new body.

Seeing Wyvern's surprise had him frozen to the spot, Amaryllis took the chance to cast a second spell. " **Nutrient mist.** " She fired the same mist from earlier in a narrow blast straight at Valin, visibly energizing him with green-tinted power.

"Huh…" grunted the dragon slayer. "I mean, it's cool, but I've taken down vulcans before."

"You little snot!" Valin roared. The lion-sized, plant-armoured cat sprang forward claws bared and mouth open to reveal a row of dagger teeth.

Wyvern spun out of the way, rotating straight into a roundhouse kick. " **Forest Dragon's Tail Strike!** "

As he brought his foot down his low leg turned into a thick vine that struck Valin in the throat and knocked him aside. The cat recovered quickly and was soon upon him with a rapid series of claw swipes. Wyvern took his slash on his arm guards. Valin's claws made long gouges in his armour sending splinters flying every which way.

Though the dragon slayer was loath to admit it, he felt tired already. Amaryllis and Valin seemed to use hardly any magic reserves in a fight, while Wyvern practically relied on it. The tabby-turned-lion in particular didn't have to waste a drop. Perhaps he didn't have magic at all.

"Is this how it's going to be?" He shouted to the purple-haired mage. "Getting your buddy here to fight for you?"

She scoffed, doing her best to hide her anger. "Does it matter? You should just concentrate on the fight."

"It's okay if you're weak, you know. Just leave all the hard work to guys like me."

"Argh! You-" She stopped herself when she saw Wyvern's grin. He wanted to get a rise out of her, and frankly it worked.

With her concentration wavering, the mist began to wear off. Valin found himself having to work harder to move faster than his opponent. Wyvern pressed him, forcing a metaphorical wedge into the cat weakpoint, and surrounded his hands with thorny leaves and needle-thin shards of wood. Soon the tables had turned.

Wyvern went in for the deciding strike. " **Forest Dragon's Wing Attack!** "

He whipped his hands forward sending twin streams of plant matter surging toward Valin. The first wing struck the cat in the side cracking his cactoid shell. When the second hit it shattered and he went tumbling into the long grass, his small form once more hidden within it.

Wyvern panted, pulling off his ruined arm guards. "You okay to pick up the slack?" he said, turning on Amaryllis.

She stuck her hands in the air, calling for mercy. "You know, I think I'm alright leaving it there, actually." She laughed nervously.

The dragon slayer raised an eyebrow. "Seriously?"

"Yeah, I wanted to see if I could go on a job before the end of the day," she said. "No point getting overly tired, right?"

"Hmm, I get it." Wyvern dropped his stance and shifted back to a relaxed posture. Gone was the dragon and in it's place the mischievous green-haired teen. "Hey! I bet if we teamed up, got a little group going, Kami-chan would let us go on _big_ , important mission. What d'ya say?"

Valin padded over to Amaryllis. She picked him up, careful not to aggravate his cuts and bruises. "I don't know…"

"Oh come on," Wyvern replied, bounding over to them and throwing his arm around her shoulder. "What could be more fun than a couple of plant mages and their guild mates going on a dangerous job?"

"Knitting…" she muttered, "reading a book… painting…"

"Nah!" He lead them off towards the guild hall. "I promise nothing bad will happen."

Valin and Amaryllis shared a look. The tabby was about as apprehensive as his human companion, but, at the end of the day, they were members of a guild now and that meant once in awhile they had to complete a request or two.

She sighed. "I'm going to regret this."

"That's the spirit!" He roared, now practically marching them toward to front door.

"Are you even listening, kid?" said Valin.

"Nothing bad will happen at all," he repeated.

"Oh boy…" whimpered Amaryllis.

* * *

 **A/n:** Woo! Chapter!

I know that one was a little shorter than the prologue, but I promise I'll make up for it later. Thank you to everyone who's been reading and anyone who's helped me out thus far. You make this worth it!

Like most writers I thrive on feedback and reviews. If there's anything you liked or disliked, or anything you'd like to see, please get in touch through the reviews or in a pm. I have absolutely no plans to close submissions of any kind for the foreseeable future, and if I do you can be sure I'll tell you. So characters, ideas, you name it, I'm open to discussion. (Though keep those OCs in pm form please.)

As we get more participation, I have a few fun things planned to unleash.

But more on that later ;)


	3. Intro Arc - Ch02: Babysitting

**A/n** : A new chapter! Happenings! Other stuff!

I don't own Fairy Tail, nor certain indicated characters.

New OCs Introduced:

Dreamer - WendyDokuro

* * *

 **20th August X792 - Master Kami's Office - 9:49am**

Master Kami was about to return to sorting through new member registration documents when a distinctive t-tap-tap knocking sounded at her door.

"Come in, Wyvern," she said, knowing without a shadow of a doubt who was beyond the door. He'd always knocked that way. Something about a secretive guild needing a secret knock? She'd never listened. What she didn't bank on was that he'd have someone in tow.

Literally.

She regarded Amaryllis and her talking cat companion with a critical eye. They were some of the guild's newer members. Not the newest, but they hadn't been on a proper job yet either. There seemed to be so many young faces joining at the moment that where they were all coming from worried her. Wild Masquerade didn't advertise through the normal channels, per se. And certainly not in school playgrounds.

But then again maybe she was being too paranoid. She shuffled the girls folder off her desk and into a magically sealing drawer to her left before anyone could pry.

"What _now_?" She said, face almost immobile.

Wyvern smirked. "Don't look too happy to see me."

Amaryllis hung her head and tried her best to wish herself out of the room. Valin sat on her shoulder smirking just as much as Wyvern, but no doubt for reasons completely his own. The cat seemed to have a sadistic sense of humour.

"Remember that job you were trying to get me to take before?" said Wyvern. "Well I think I'll do it now."

Kami's eye twitched. A full week of trying to get him to take the job, and now, for no good reason at all…

"What changed your mind?"

"Nothing really. Met these two. Wanted something interesting to do."

The guild master fell silent for second, glanced at Amaryllis and then back to Wyvern, and snorted with laughter.

Wyvern pouted. "What?"

"Like you said, it's _nothing_ , right?" Kami folded her arms and winked. Her mask shifted from pastel pink to a pleasant yellow with feathered edges. "Well, as long you're being an active guild member for a change, I've got no reason to deny your request."

"Really?" He moved to leap across the desk but found just enough tact to stop himself. He cleared his throat and continued. "I mean thank you, Master."

"Umm… sorry to intrude but…" said Amaryllis, voice timid. "What mission are we talking about?"

Amaryllis didn't think she'd ever not be intimidated by Wild Masquerade's master. There was something beneath her generally stoney, unflinching surface. A secret perhaps, and probably a dark one at that. Her expression said as much, when the woman thought no one was looking… and Amaryllis prided herself on being a little more observant than most girls her age. She'd have to be wary of her new master.

"When Wyvern first declined, I took it down." The master sighed. "It's a simple job, I suppose, but I had hoped our young slayer here would take it, so I kept it in reserve for him."

"Just in case?"

"Just in case."

"Is that something you're allowed to do?" asked Amaryllis, quickly realising how stupid she sounded.

Kami frowned. She opened a drawer below the one the new member files were in, and pulled out a poster ad like the one's usually pinned and taped to the request board in the main hall. She slapped it down on the desk between them and motioned for them to join her.

Wyvern spoke out loud as he read it.

" _Spare me some of your time, mages of the fabled Wild Masquerade guild._

 _My generosity has been taken advantage of. The other day I took in travelers in need of shelter, they repaid me by robbing me. I called for the rune knights and they came in time, but unfortunately they were no match. Please, mages, retrieve my goods and get rid of those cruel miscreants. I'd offer you my assistance, but I'm afraid this matter cannot be traced back to me in any-_

"Hold up, hold up," said Wyvern, interrupting his own narrative. "Doesn't this guy seem a little fishy to you?"

Master Kami hung her head, a sweat drop rolling down her face in a rare moment of human emotion. "I don't suppose you remember what our guild's foremost message is, hmm?"

"Huh." He shrugged. "Fair point."

Amaryllis shook her head in disbelief. " _Fair point_? You're gonna drop the issue just like that? Should a light guild really being taking such jobs on face value?"

The guild master turned that very same intense glare on the gardener mage once more.

"Heh… I, I mean, I'm not trying to tell you how to do your job or anything, Master Kami… Sir... Ma'am." she said, trying to backtrack before she met her end at the hands of the intimidating woman. _Why do I always have to put my foot in it?!_

"It's okay, young one. I understand your trepidation. I'd feel the same in your position.," said Kami, her voice unusually calming for once. "Second only to being a sanctuary for lost souls, Wild Masquerade exists for precisely this kind of mission. The kind of person who petitions us for help, instead of a more mainstream guild, is rarely one for wholly altruistic purposes."

Amaryllis looked to Valin for support, only for the cat to shrug at her.

Master Kami continued. "Do you understand what I ask of the members of my guild, child?"

"That we… take the jobs, no questions asked?"

She nodded. "Yes. And there isn't a mage in this guild who can't handle a little of the unexpected. I believe in you all. Even those I've only just met."

"Do you _really_ trust someone like me that much though? What if he's a criminal transporting something illicit and the guys who took his things are really the good guys?"

Wyvern clapped his hand down on her shoulder. "It's no fun if you rationalise it like that, dude." He looked over his shoulder at Kami. "Right, Kami-chan?"

The guild master growled. "I thought I told you never to- ahem..."

She squashed her anger for the time being, for the sake of moving on with the briefing at hand. "Have I ever pried into your history or your secrets, Amaryllis? Of course not, and I'd ask no different of those who seek our assistance. You ask too many questions, dear." She leaned in closer to the girl, her expression shifting and softening. She almost seemed to wink. "I also trust that clever, _rational_ criminals wouldn't be seen dead near a guild like ours."

"I guess I see what you mean..."

"Besides!" roared Wyvern, his voice reaching new levels of fervent excitement. "It says here we'll be paid handsomely. What in the world could be better than that?"

The purple haired mage chuckled and rolled her eyes. "Oh, if you put it that way."

"Well," said Valin. "I guess I ain't gonna say no to a little extra dough."

"Please, don't worry. Rarely are the jobs we take overly dangerous. More often than not they are from people who want a little more anonymity than can be afforded by _some_ guilds. It's not like we're Fairy Tail, is it?"

Wyvern chuckled.

"Okay then," said Amaryllis, bowing her head. She wasn't certain by any means, but Master Kami made a convincing argument. Plus, if Wyvern didn't see anything wrong with it, then she didn't have much choice. "I'll help out if I can."

"Excellent. Wyvern could use someone like you along for the ride. However," she held up a single finger, giving the group pause. "I ask one favour of you. I want you to take someone with you."

"Who?" said Wyvern slowly, tilting his head.

"In fact, you met her yesterday in our newest group of mages. She goes by the name Dreamer."

"Uh." Wyvern took a step back. He paled at the mere mention of the name. "That weird, white haired chick with the creepy smile?"

"The very same."

" _Her_?! Do I have to?" he whined.

"What do you think?"

"Ugh," his shoulders drooped as he hung his head in defeat. "Alright, alright."

Amaryllis and Valin looked on confused, but didn't have long to wait as Kami spoke soon after.

"Dreamer is young I grant you, but there's only a couple of years between her and yourself, Wyvern. She tells me she wants to get stronger and be of service to the guild, but I can't let her on a job of her own without first getting the proper experience. I'm sure you understand."

"Babysitting," said Wyvern. "Gottcha."

"All kids are annoying," grunted Valin, clearly not fussed about hurting the feelings of his present company. "But how bad can one little girl be?"

Wyvern scratched the back of his head trying in vain to come up with a civil answer.

"Uhhhh… I'll get back to you on that."

* * *

 **20th August X792 - Main hall, by the bar - 10:03am**

Wyvern hid half way behind one of the huge pillars that rose up into the main hall's vaulted ceiling, occasionally peering around the masonry before ducking back. Amaryllis and Valin stood next to him not bothering to hide.

Sitting at the bar and gently kicking her legs with a soft pleasant smile on her face, was a young girl with white pigtailed hair. Her eyes were half closed giving her an almost serene quality amongst the rabble and hubbub of the guild that morning.

"She seems nice," said Amaryllis, quirking an eyebrow at the dragon slayer, who acted more like he was frightened of the girl.

"Don't be fooled," he said in a dark monotone. "That's not a little girl. That's the ultimate darkness wrapped in layers of sugar and frills."

"What the actual hell are you talking about?" Amaryllis giggled. "She's adorable."

"SHH!" Wyvern yanked her back behind the pillar. "She'll hear you..."

She stumbled from the sudden movement but managed not to fall on him. A sweat drop slid down her cheek. "This is ridiculous. She's just a kid."

" _Trust_ me on this."

"Hey. What are you guys doing over here?"

Wyvern leaped out of his skin and threw up his arms, turning them to wood in defense. Dreamer stood no more than a foot or two away, smile still on her face, no doubt having moved to see what they were up to while they were bickering.

Amaryllis merely rolled her eyes at him. She opened her mouth to greet the girl, but stopped, seeing she'd already bent down to stroke Valin.

"You're a handsome kitty, aren't you? Yes you are," Dreamer cooed, tickling him under the chin and behind the ears. "It would be a shame if someone murdered you."

" _Eh_?"

Valin hissed. "Why do people insist on petting me?!"

Dreamer retracted her hand, smile never changing. "I'm sorry, Mr. Kitty."

Free from her grasp, the cat shivered before springing up onto his companion's shoulders. Amaryllis tried her best to ignore the creepy comment and stuck out her hand in greeting.

"Hi, my name is.. is Amaryllis. This is Valin and Wyvern."

"I'm Am- uh, Dreamer."

Though her expression remained the same, and she didn't appear to mind, the slip up didn't go unnoticed by Wyvern. You didn't hear it often in Wild Masquerade, but considering she was only new he let it slid.

Managing to summon courage from somewhere, he spoke through gritted teeth as it was the only thing he could do not to shake. "Master says you should come with us!"

Amaryllis shook her head and patted him on the back. "Relax, okay? What the doofus means is there's a little job we want to go on and Master suggested we take you with us."

"Voi," said Dreamer, a sound of exclamation, placing a hand over her heart. "Me? Really?"

"Y-yeah. Young, you are," blurted Wyvern.

" _Can it_!" Amaryllis snapped at him, before turning back to Dreamer. "The master is worried that you're too young to go on missions on your own, so she wondered if you wanted to tag along with us. For experience."

The white haired girl with puffy purple skirt regarded Amaryllis for a second, before shrugging. She pointed at Wyvern. "I don't mind going with him and Mr Kitty. At least they seem interesting."

The slayer let out a strangled yelp, not appreciating the attention, while the gardener mage just pouted.

"What's that supposed to mean?" She mumbled.

"Nothing really." Dreamer's smile drilled into Amaryllis' skull.

 _Maybe Wyvern was right about her…_ She thought, _No, I shouldn't judge. She probably doesn't even realise she's doing it._

By this point Wyvern had mustered up some sort of a normal expression. He raised his fist in a rousing gesture, braving Dreamer's smile. "Then it's decided. Let's get going. Right now!"

"Oi," said Amaryllis, "At least give us an hour to gather our stuff..."

* * *

 **20th August X792 - The road out of Oleander - Noon**

A dark skinned man in his early twenties watched the trio of young mages as they walked, clad as they were in their standard issue travelling cloaks. Hoods up of course. He perched, concealed from view high in a tall tree at the side of the road. He made no move on them but observed with curious intent.

"Young, too young perhaps for this," he muttered to himself, quiet enough that not even the birds in their nests would hear.

As they passed out of view over the rise of the hill, he spread his arms and leapt from the tree canopy. Mid jump, his body shifted into that of a large bird-of-prey. He soared into the air, being careful not to follow too closely.

The last thing he needed was for the dragon slayer to pick up his scent.

* * *

 **21th August X792 - Early Morning**

The three mages packed away their small camp. Members of Wild Masquerade didn't tend to stay in inns. Monetary transactions made them easier to track.

Amaryllis lifted her goggles onto her forehead and rubbed her deep purple eyes. At least when Valin and her had been travelling alone they'd slept in comfort. She wasn't cut out for sleeping rough. She supposed one of these day that was yet another thing she'd have to get used to.

"Why couldn't we have gotten the train?" She whined. "If you hadn't have thrown up on the ticket guy we'd be there by now… It hadn't even started moving yet!"

Wyvern blinked.

As someone prone to forgetting the guild's number one rule from time to time himself, the openness to reveal herself shocked him. What bugged him more though was that she looked far prettier without the goggles. She didn't seem the Masquerade type at all, but thoughts like that didn't hold much water when you yourself didn't. He didn't know why he'd joined in all honesty, but it seemed like the right thing to do at the time.

Dreamer, same contented expression, continued to roll up her sleeping bag. She didn't look like she cared what they did in the slightest. She'd slept in her clothes and her blue feathered, white mask the entire night without so much as sighing. Even Wyvern had had to shift his at one point to get comfortable, but safely hidden in his sleeping bag he didn't think it mattered much.

He shook his head, wondering exactly when he'd become the responsible one. **Him!**

"Just so you know, we always keep our masks on."

"Who's gonna know?" Amaryllis yawned. "There's no one out here 'cept us."

That's a question he'd often asked, one to which he'd never gotten a satisfying answer. "I know it seems it petty, but it's for the best. Kami-chan _always_ finds out, and that's, uh… Not something to look forward to."

"What exactly would she do?" She shook her head and sighed. Maybe it would be best to not test that theory. Her large royal purple eyes disappeared behind her goggles and her bangs fell back into place.

He shuddered. "You don't want to know."

Once they'd finished packing and had found Valin, they walked the short way out of the main bulk of the forest. A quaint little town with pointed red stone roofs and whitewashed walls slid into view.

"Where are we meeting the client?" said Dreamer. "That is how this usually goes, right?"

She was quiet, sure, and prone to many strange comments, but not all that sadistic as it turned out. Still Wyvern was wary around her. Her's was the smile of a girl who had something to hide. He hoped it was a secret worthy of Wild Masquerade and not anything too sinister. You could never be sure who was hiding what.

Amaryllis swung her bag around and pulled out the flier. She studied the landscape for a second before pointing out a large blue-green lake just north of the town. "Over there. Though if he doesn't want anyone to see him with us, I don't see why we're meeting at all."

"Best not to question it," said Wyvern with a grin.

"Then what?" said Amaryllis. "Bumble in blindly, I suppose?"

"Naturally."

"Nothing wrong with bumbling," grumbled Valin, trotting alongside the group. "Except when it gets you thoroughly killed..."

Dreamer tilted her head. "That won't happen."

"No offense," Valin scoffed. "But how could you possibly know, doll?"

"Just do."

"Oh, well, I guess that makes it all better, doesn't it..."

Amaryllis resisted the urge to scream at their blind faith. Though she would never admit to liking her cat companion, not to his face, Valin had a brain between his adorable ears. She knew she was probably being a little harsh on Dreamer and Wyvern, but in truth she was scared. She'd taken a few independent jobs here and there before joining the guild, but nothing like this, nothing with an almost guaranteed threat of combat.

Wyvern chose a path that skirted around the edge of the town. Neither of the girls questioned him. Despite the lackadaisical attitude, a love of fighting and a penchant for overreacting to the dumbest of things, the dragon slayer was still the most experienced among them. Although it was hard for Amaryllis to say without seeing Dreamer in action, Wyvern could have been the strongest mage of the group.

Stranger things could happen.

As the remainder of the trees thinned out into a rolling grassland, the lake stretched out and unfurled before them like a great shimmering mirror. A small log cabin sat off to one side with a rickety jetty jutting out into the calm shallow waters. A one man sailing boat bobbed with the motion of what little waves there were that day. It looked like the sort of place that rarely saw any trouble, and if it did they'd be problems of the capsized boat variety.

Calm and tranquil. That didn't sit right. It troubled Valin just as much as it appeared to trouble Wyvern. The cat looked in turn from the slayer to the girls.

Dreamer yawned, bored yet still smiling. The young teenager distracted herself with something clearly more fascinating on the floor. For a girl who aspired to being a helpful guild mage and eventually going on her own solo missions, it didn't seem like she took things very seriously. Thankfully Amaryllis hadn't been quite that bad when they first met. At least she had the fear about her. A healthy dose of the fear of the unknown was good for a growing kid. Kept them out of trouble.

Wyvern paused half way through a step and smelt the air. Before Valin or any of the others could react or question him a cacophonous cracking of tree branches had them scrambling. Amaryllis jumped to the side of the road with Valin skidding to a halt in front of her, claws dug into the dirt. Dreamer leapt to the other side. Her reactions only just quick enough to dodge a falling branch that could have knocked her unconscious. Wyvern remained where he was, batting away any large debris with his arms, but let most of it fall around him.

Four people dropped from the canopy and landed in a crouch bringing down a shower of leaves and twigs with them. Their clothes were old, ragtag and ill fitting like every item had at one time belonged to someone else.

"This place is under our protection," said their leader, a tall, thin woman wearing a patchwork jacket of mainly browns and greens. "If you wanna pass through you'll have to pay the toll."

Wyvern frowned. He shrugged off his cloak and tightened his wooden arm guards, spoiling for a fight. "And you'll have to make us. I don't see your names on this road, or the forest, or that rock!"

"Whoa kid, slow down." The gang leader sniggered, eliciting laughter from her three goons. She eyed his forest green guild mark. "I don't think you understand what's happening here."

" _Don't_ I?" He balled his fists and dropped into low grounded stance.

Amaryllis grabbed his shoulder and held him back. "What are you doing? You're going to get yourself hurt!"

He brushed her hands away. "I'll bet you anything these are the guys who took that other dude's stuff."

"I don't think it's that simple…"

The gangster smiled and folded her arms. "So what if we did, what you three gonna do about it?"

Wyvern turned one of his fists to wood, but said nothing.

"Oh, cute. You want to play about with magic? This isn't the playground, kid. Out here there are _real_ mages." She looked over her shoulder at her friends. A rusty chain here, a set of knuckle dusters there, the gang armed themselves. She turned back and presented one open palm then pressed her fist to it. "Time to show them how it's done, boys. Fire-make: Eagle!"

The flaming eagle shot from her hands and screamed towards the forest dragon slayer. He had no time to dodge. Not at that distance.

His eyes went wide.

"Ah crap..."


	4. Intro Arc - Ch03: Making Connections

**A/n** : Back again. More introductions too!

Goes without saying, I don't claim ownership over anything that isn't mine.

New OCs Introduced

Slyph - Third Cosmic Velocity

Sterling - TheMagiSpirit

* * *

 **21th August X792 - Edge of the forest - Early Morning**

"Ah crap."

The heat of the fiery eagle made Wyvern's eyes water. He turned his arms back to flesh and closed his eyes. It felt like slow motion.

 _No use complaining now…_

He heard a scream. One of the girls. Probably Amaryllis. And a gasp.

The next moment was indistinct. Cliches about a single moment stretching into eternity felt somehow inadequate. The moment didn't stretch so much as stop entirely. Not, in hindsight, a feeling he wanted to repeat.

Time started moving again and Wyvern hit the floor, pinned by a hefty furry mass. The fire eagle soared ineffectively over head, burning out not long after.

Valin? No, regular tabby's were too light and the cat's cactoid shell, too leafy… He opened his eyes.

The huge tiger stepped off him and appeared to wink. With an almighty roar, it leaped in amongst the stunned thugs, scattering them.

"What the hell?" Ignoring the oddness of a tiger winking, Wyvern looked around expecting to see a summoner mage, or something similar at least. Instead he spotted a young man a few years older than him who he knew well hiding in the tree line.

He had long tousled white hair and wore a white half mask covered with glowing blue runes. Though he tried to hide how much the one spell had taken out of him, the way he clutched his long red scarf gave the game away to Wyvern.

"Slyph!" Wyvern hollered, "Nice one!"

The older teenager had a power he called… Well Wyvern couldn't remember and even then he didn't think he could pronounce it. Slyph basically dealt in time-and-space distortion. Powerful. When he had the strength to pull it off. Wyvern didn't know how many other people had noticed his struggle with lack of magical energy, but he wasn't about to spill if Slyph didn't want him to. That would be rude.

The tiger knocked down two of the thugs in one swipe of its paw. In one fluid motion it reared up onto its hind legs and turned into a familiar looking old man in a butler's suit.

"And Morph… I should have known."

The shapeshifter clocked the third bandit on the nose making it gush blood. He straightened his cuffs. "Who else did you expect?"

"Oi," Wyvern said turning his eyes into thick thorny vines. "I _totally_ had it under control."

The pair turned to see the lady bandit advancing on the girls. She held in her hands blades of fire which she juggled briefly.

"Maybe this'll loosen the purse strings a little." She whipped her arm back, preparing to fling the blades at the cowering young mages.

"No!" Wyvern broke into a sprint sending his vines out in front of him. He had to close the distance between them and stop it somehow.

Morph's hand clamped down on his arm, stopping him in his tracks. The dragon slayer struggled, almost tipping them both over. "Let go, damn it!"

The lone S-Class mage of Wild Masquerade said nothing, just held firm. The blades spun forward end over end, passing straight through the girls and setting the trees behind them on fire.

Wyvern frowned, all the fight leaving him at the sight of the flickering images of Dreamer and Amaryllis. "Wha-?"

" **Cactoid Shell!** "

Valin, in his green-armoured leonine form, leaped from the bushes and pinned the fire-make mage to the path. Taken unaware, and completely unable to move her hands she couldn't cast any spells. This she seemed to realise and slumped back in defeat with little fuss.

Wyvern grinned as Dreamer with the remains of a magic circle still dissipating above her hand stepped back onto the path. No doubt she'd been the source of the illusion. Amaryllis and Slyph followed.

One of thugs clambered to his feet and made a rush at them, but Morph clotheslined him with little effort sending him straight back onto the ground right next to his boss.

Wyvern knelt down and flicked her on the nose eliciting a strained cry of frustration. "And that's why the mages of Wild Masquerade will not be paying your toll. Sound good?"

" _Bite_ me, kid."

"Can't say I'm a fan of fire," he said straightening up. "I'm more of a veggie kinda guy."

Morph moved Valin off one of the bandit's arms and whipped aside her patchwork jacket. On her shoulder was a black hand symbol with wispy ghostly fingers. Morph narrowed his eyes.

Wyvern caught the frown and raised an eyebrow beneath his mask. "A guild?"

By this point the others had gathered around also. Amaryllis exchanged a confused glance with Dreamer, while the white haired girl simply shrugged. Out of all of them Slyph seemed to know the most about what it meant, but either he wasn't allowed to tell or, as usual, he didn't feel the need to speak.

Morph held up a finger. "Let's deal with these four and then we'll talk."

Morph produced a rope from his back, no doubt from a bag hidden by the shapeshifter magic and was about to turn to the remaining bandits when one of them threw a lacrima at the ground. It shattered, creating a portal that sucked in all four of the bandits before snapping closed with an anticlimactic pop.

"Shit..." Said Morph.

Amaryllis sighed. Although it left the situation unsolved, she was in a way glad.

Dreamer looked to the still giant-sized Valin, and flashed him her trademark creepy smile complete with cute head tilt. "See, Mr Kitty? You didn't need to be so pessimistic after all."

"The bad guys got away. How can that _not_ be a bad thing?" As layer upon layer of plant matter peeled off him, his voice shrunk from a boomy, growling bass to normal.

"I suppose it _would_ have been better if they got hurt more."

Wyvern shuddered, but ignored it and refocused on Morph. "I suppose now's a good time to fill us in after all, huh?"

"Fine," the shapeshifting mage said, "But we'll do it in that cabin."

After a quick but thorough sweep of the area to flush out any remaining bandits or dark mages, the group reconvened in the abandoned log cabin.

By this point Morph had shifted into a generic tan skinned male form. Now shirtless, his large white guild mark could be seen in the exact centre of his chest. He stood, almost uncomfortably, by the door while everyone else took up positions on the various cobwebbed chairs and tables scattered about the small dark room.

Amazingly, Dreamer spoke up first. "Where's-"

"There never was a client," said Morph, cutting the 12 year old mage off. "I know most of you won't like this, but we had to use you to confirm something."

Amaryllis formed a kind of o of realisation with her mouth. "And that's why master wouldn't leave the job on the board. She had Wyvern picked out especially."

"Yes, but you and Dreamer were a happy coincidence. Thankfully we needed a group the so-called bandits would without doubt underestimate."

"Oh..." said Wyvern. "Hey!"

Morph grinned. "I know, I know, how cruel."

"Alright that's the what, now what about the why?" Amaryllis looked to Dreamer, only to find the girl staring squarely at Slyph. "What kind of guild mark was that?"

"Spectral Hand," said Morph. "They're a guild who not long ago tipped over into being dark. We've had our eye on them for a while though. Sterling was on a mission in the capital and ran across the same gang planning their new scam. He wasn't able to do much about it obviously, but..."

* * *

 **[FLASHBACK]**

 **14th August X792 - An inn in the outer districts of Crocus - 7:43pm**

As he walked into the crowded, alcohol fume laden inn, Sterling pulled his travelling cloak's hood forward to hide his steel-and-blue dust mask/rebreather. He'd been asked too many times about it already and it didn't help that his height and muscle mass made him stand out even more. If it wasn't for the guild mark on the far right of his chest and more prominently on the back of the cloak, he felt he might have been arrested.

Besides, it was getting irritating...

Following the rebuilding of the city after the now infamous events at the most recent grand magic games, the twenty six year old mage had taken a mission which basically boiled down to keeping an eye out for suspicious behaviour. A number of other guilds has been sent similar job requests. Something about the royal family wanting to step up security 'just in case' while they got things back under control? He didn't question it. That wasn't his job. He'd get paid no matter what.

The first eventuality, he'd figured upon taking the job, was that someone might get attacked. The solution was easy in theory: he'd protect them, foil the plot and reap the rewards. To be fair though, he didn't envisage anything big happening. The second eventuality? Nothing happened in the slightest. Weeks of lounging around, followed by a pat on the back and an even bigger reward for 'doing such a good job'. Win-win.

Sterling didn't see sitting around hoping for no action as laziness per se, though he knew a few people who would. It was pure zero-sum logic, that's all. He'd seen a best shot course of action and taken it, knowing that things would (probably) balance themselves out in the end. If they didn't, well then he'd just have to get his hands dirty, wouldn't he? No sweat.

And, if all else failed, there were plenty of rune knights and city guardsmen about.

He sat himself down in a booth as close to the door as he could. He didn't want to brave the bar, not yet anyhow. When surveying the inn with his half lidded gaze didn't yield any results, he decided to go back to relaxing.

Would Master Kami approve of such shirking of responsibility? No but what Kami didn't know, wouldn't hurt her. She may have seemed omniscient at times, but she was only human. He should have been training if nothing else, but somehow in that moment this was the place to be. Call it a gut feeling.

"Hey, friend," came a gruff voice, snapping Sterling from his pre-dozing off drowsiness. "Why don't you drop that hood o' yours, hmm? You're gonna piss a fella off that like."

"Hmm?" It took a moment for the mage to come around.

"Are you deaf or just stupid?" The owner of the voice was a sweaty mountain of a thug. Just the kind of patron one might expect from such a quality establishment. "I said, get that _goddamn_ hood down 'fore I make ya."

Sterling held up his hands in gesture of truce. "If you don't mind, sir, I'll keep it up… and I don't want any trouble."

The man slid into the booth next to Sterling and slung his odorous arm around his shoulder. "Look here, friend. It's best f' everyone if you do. People get a mite twitchy when they think someone's having a good snoop. Know what I'm saying?"

Internally, Sterling cringed. Even if relaxing was the name of the game right now, he guessed snooping would be an accurate description of his activities in general. "I understand, don't get me wrong, but… I'm not sure you understand. You see-"

The man-mountain slapped him hard on the arm. "I don't particularly care who you are. Neither does no-one 'round here, frankly. We're all equal."

"Fine." He sighed. "But I won't be responsible if you don't like what you see." He flipped back his hood, scruffy, side-swept black hair settling back into place, revealing his mask.

The barfly shot to his feet. "Now I _know_ you're messing with me! Get it all off. Now!"

He shook his head. "I warned you…"

" _That's it_!"

Calloused hands grabbed a handful of both his white tank top and cloak and yanked him out of the booth. The bar went deathly quiet. Sterling remained surefooted and glanced around.

 _I don't have any room to move or cast spells… This guy's got the weight and home turf advantage… Can't let anyone else get hurt... I need to find a way to even the score somehow._

"Like I said, I'm not looking for trouble."

"But trouble found you." The man slammed his fists together and leered at the man he clearly thought was an easy target.

"I'm sorry I offended you, really I am, but can't we at least act like gentlemen and take this outside."

"Fine," the man agreed.

Following him out into the street, Sterling didn't see the chair swooping down on him from behind, and if he had there wouldn't have been much he could do about it. He hit the floor in the doorway with little grace, unconscious before he even came to a stop.

The patrons of the inn gathered around to see the young man sprawled across the barroom floor.

"Shit man, you just clobbered a mage!" Said one drunk, pointing a grubby finger at the guild logo on the back of the cloak.

"Who cares?!"

"What if he's got friends here somewhere?

"... Fair point."

"Let's split!"

"Too right!"

* * *

 **[The Present]**

Though he couldn't help but smile, Wyvern found himself confused… again. "As much as I _love_ to hear how our resident training-o-holic got beat down by a drunk… What does this have to do with Spectral Hand?"

Morph would have answered, if it weren't for Amaryllis clobbering the slayer with back of her hand and doing it for him.

"It's just good storytelling, you dolt. Give Morph a chance to set the scene!"

Morph sweatdropped, but continued upon seeing the entire group eager to hear the rest.

* * *

 **[Flashback]**

Sterling came to in an alleyway covered with black sacks full of putrid garbage. He was about to push them aside and pull himself together, when he heard hushed talking no more than a few metres away.

"So," said the first voice. A brutish sounding male. "Run it past me again, Anna?"

A rather feminine sigh preceded the reply. "Listen _careful_ this time, Arden, Master wants us to make some cash, right?"

"Yup."

"The plan is simple. All we do is stake out the road into some podunk town and charge people for the privilege of passing by."

"Isn't that a little cliche?" asked a third, slightly more refined voice.

"Who cares if it's older than dirt?" the woman said, "If ain't broke, right?"

"Hmmm," the refined voice said, "I know what the Master wants us to do, Lord _knows_ we've heard that grand plan of his enough times, but how _exactly_ does this benefit Spectral Hand?"

A slapping sound, followed by a yelp, quickly silenced the man. The apparent leader of the bandits continued. "D'you want to throw that name around a little more, Kin?"

"No! _Geez_... Keep your skirt on."

"Good!" Anna said, "Now stop arguing. Crocus has gotten a little too… sour recently for our current scam, so we've got to do something to get back up and running."

"All this just to cause a scene… Seems a waste..." Mumbled another one of the bandits.

Hearing footsteps signalling the bandits leaving, Sterling sprang out of the pile of bin bags sending a shower of rotten waste everywhere. The bandits whirled around in surprise.

"Where the fiery hell did you come from?" The woman was tall and wore a patchwork jacket, her three thug friends were fairly nondescript but had similar ramshackle clothing.

"Just so you know," said Sterling, brushing filth off his clothes. "I'm a mage of Wild Masquerade. So don't think I'm going to let you walk away after what I just heard."

"Ha, let's get out of here, boys," she said, eyeing him with great suspicion, considering the stench radiating from him.

"I don't think so." Sterling ran at her, taking her off guard. Her friends didn't have time to react before his hand was around her bare arms. " **Connect.** "

A light blue magic seal flashed over her skin and seeped into the pair of them. Though no effect was felt by the bandit, Sterling's body began to change subtly. He grew a little taller and little thinner and the colour of his shorts changed from its usual blue and silver to a patchwork of greens and browns similar to what the bandits wore.

"What did you do?" Said Anna, jerking out of his grip and backing away to join her teammates.

Sterling smiled. "Just a little example of my magic." He dropped into a grounded stance and place a fist in the open palm of his other hand. "I assume you recognise this little trick?"

Anna looked as though she'd seen a ghost. The bandits all continued to back away from the mage. "You've… That's… Impossible. Right?"

"You'll just have to find out… **Fire-make: Eagle!** "

An eagle formed from the foreign fire now streaming from Sterling's hands. It corkscrewed through the middle of the Spectral Hand Bandits narrowly missing them. One of the men moved to counterattack, but Anna yanked him back down.

"Do you have a death wish?" She screamed. "That's _my_ magic he's using. I know what it can do."

Sure enough the eagle circled back around and flew in figure 8s around their heads, perfectly in time with Sterling's hand movements. "I've got to say, this is a nice spell… But I probably won't be adding it to my collection."

Now he'd gotten them pinned, he only needed to figure out how to get them to the authorities with no one around to help.

* * *

 **[The Present]**

"So as soon as he got back to Oleander, he told the master. I don't know exactly what happened next, but it was like she kicked into _overdrive_ or something. She came to me, explained her plan and - well you know the rest."

Wyvern jumped off the table he'd perched on and scratched the back of his head. "What are we doing clearing up two-bit scam artists like Spectral Hand then? Sounds pretty lame."

"Like I said," Morph stressed. "I don't know what Sterling said to Master Kami, but something has them ticked off big time."

"Umm..." Everyone turned to the source of the voice. The usually quiet Slyph pulled down the bulk of his scarf some, wondering whether it had muffled him too much for anyone to hear him. "Thing is I've had run ins with that guild before… for what it's worth..."

"And I'm pretty sure Sterling has too," said Wyvern, nodding sagely as though imparting a vital drop of knowledge. "He's always banging on about getting stronger when we spar. Gotta be to beat someone, don't you think?"

"That doesn't mean _anything_ ," growled Valin, rolling his little tabby eyes. "He might be aiming to beat Morph for all you know. Who cares?"

Morph's gaze shifted to the door. "I shouldn't be saying this, but Sterling has had personal trouble with dark guilds in the past. It is possible its Spectral Hand he's focused on, but I can't say for certain."

"But that still doesn't explain, Kami-chan," said Wyvern.

"No, it doesn't," a grin spreading across Morph's face. "But, please, be my guest if you want to ask."

Wyvern paled at the thought.

The Shapeshifter chuckled. "That's what I thought." He composed himself and continued, "Again I'm sorry we used you as bait, but if the master thinks it's important enough to risk it then..."

Amaryllis shook her head. It sounded an awful lot like politics, something she wasn't too keen on. Despite the explanation, despite proving without doubt that Spectral Hand were the ones behind recent problems across Fiore, it didn't feel much like a victory to her. The bandits had gotten away. And now they had reason to want revenge. It made her want to run and never look back, to distance herself as far from dark guilds as she possibly could.

Dreamer took in a quick but deep breath, making almost everyone jump from the sudden sound. "Dark guilds like killing, don't they?" She said. "Torture rooms aren't cheap. Probably just ran out of jewel."

Wyvern raised an eyebrow. Silent for most of the conversation, then she chooses to say something like that. No wonder really, in his mind, that she hadn't made too many friends yet. "Y-you're probably not wrong..."

Valin's hackles raised. "That's a bizarrely specific thing for a little girl like you to know."

Her smile widened. "I'm just guessing."

"I should hope so too!" said Valin.

* * *

 **A/n** : Huzzah! Another chapter done and dusted. More characters, a little more background to the guild, the introduction of the dark guild Spectral Hand... and hints of future plots? Me thinks so!

So you guys have been submitting and reviewing all over the place, and all the lovely comments! You're all too much. And since you've been reviewing I'm going to take a leaf out of other SYOC writer's books and reply to them in my closing author notes.

Here goes!

DarkHyena \- _Thanks for reading! I've got to say I've always had a thing for OCs. I just can't help myself sometimes. I'm always ruining fanfics with 'em :P Being new to SYOCs I didn't really know what to expect, but I'm having a blast working with everyone so far!_

WendyDokuro - _I'm glad you enjoyed my portrayal of Dreamer. It's great to know I'm doing something right! She's pretty fun to write too. So thanks!_

Third Cosmic Velocity \- _Thanks for the f &f matey. Hopefully you won't have too long to wait until the next chapter. These things are practically writing themselves!_

Savage324 \- _I'm not sure I'm the best around here... but I'm truly flattered :D Thank you so much! I'm glad you've liked the fight scenes so far too, as I've always felt those were what I struggle with the most._


	5. Intro Arc - Ch04: The Survivor

**A/n:** Phew! You guys have been busy sending me characters and ideas these past few days. Thanks to all of you! I also have a couple of announcements I'll put in the closing author note. So stick around for that!

I don't claim to own anything (OCs, Fairy Tail itself, etc)... unless I actually do (the guild, my characters, etc..).

New OCs Introduced

Shiro - Savage243

Travesty - Shouta Izukai

Paradox - I1am1the1best

Charles - klbubblepop786

* * *

 **22th August X792 - Wild Masquerade Guild Hall - 10.46am**

A tall eighteen year old boy, long ivory hair tied back in a low ponytail, walked alongside the darkly cloaked and hooded figure he knew only as Keystone. He hadn't seen their face and couldn't make out a single detail of their body type or gender. Though his bandaged hands were stuck deep into his pockets he thrust his chest out with confidence. After everything that had happened to him recently he didn't exactly care why they felt the need to wear such a shrouding cloak. He just ignored it. Each to their own, he figured, but something else was bothering him.

"So the guild you're taking me to..." He didn't take his eyes off the winding path in front of them, leading through the meadow towards the large guild hall of Wild Masquerade. "My nickname Beza isn't good enough, in the name department, right?"

"No," came the magically distorted reply. "Too obvious."

" _Ugh_ ," Beza paused to think for a second, "I guess if I had to have a codename… It would be something cool like _Travesty_."

"A choice as good as any other."

"What?" He said with a grin. "No sagely advice."

"No."

No further reply came. 'Travesty' sighed. "Geez, I guess that's it then huh?"

It had only been a few days since his mother's murder and by all accounts he should have been more distraught. He wondered whether it lead from her decision to stand idly by while his dad kicked him out of the house. All for practicing magic... It was either that or the gravity of the situation had yet to hit him. He certainly hadn't cried. That's something you were supposed to do eventually, right?

He'd spent the past year trying to make up for lost time with her, and now he never would. He could have easily lost himself in ifs and buts, but he had a job to do. Get stronger. Find her murderer. Make him pay. And Wild Masquerade would help him achieve it. Of course he wasn't convinced this particular guild would be his kind of thing. They were nothing like how he remembered Fairy Tail from back in the day, but at least this way he could avenge her and maybe somehow appease karma.

Besides, staying in Oleander was convenient.

He turned his golden-flecked cat-like eyes on the guild hall. It wasn't overly big and somewhat underwhelming really, but they looked after it, that much he could tell. It was like a large, three story, red brick box with a handful of smaller outbuildings scattered around like satellites. The only things that obviously marked it as a guild hall were the mages sparing in the meadow out front and the gleaming, polished sign above the door, with its perfectly serifed lettering.

Keystone and Travesty stopped at the foot of the steps. There they were met by Master Kami.

He didn't know what he expected from a master of Wild Masquerade. He wasn't disappointed as such, but part of him had imagined a ninja, a cult leader with a full messiah-complex face mask leaden with religious iconography, or something like that at the very least. Now he thought more about the guild's name her ivory white ball gown and intricate matching mask made sense.

As he watched her mask shift colours, he fingered the temporary black bandana Keystone had leant him and knew in an instant he wanted something more impressive.

The Master nodded at Keystone, who nodded in return and left without another word.

Travesty frowned. _Guess I don't get a goodbye then? Oh well, at least that Sheriff Xander woman was nice enough._

Kami looked him up and down. She didn't look impressed. "I'm told you're a mage. What's your speciality?"

Though taken aback by the sudden interrogation, he replied with only a slight falter. "Shadow maker magic, ma'am."

"Hm." She turned on her heels, gown fanning out around her ankles. "I shall have to see that for myself."

 _What have I done now?_ was the only thought in his head in that moment. _Barely even opened my mouth and she hates me …_

Despite that, he grinned to himself. Life at Wild Masquerade wouldn't be so bad after all. She may as well have not wanted him there, but she was a stone cold fox for sure. That more than made up for it. And where there was one beautiful woman more would surely follow. Plus many more friends besides.

"Aren't you coming?" She said without breaking pace. "We have paperwork to fill out."

"Oh," he widened his stride, easily keeping up with her as they entered the guild proper due to his height. "Okay."

He looked around the hall, with it's bar, tables and rabble.

"As a member of Wild Masquerade this is where you'll no doubt spend most of your time off." She gestured to the seating area and, much to her annoyance, the arm wrestling tournament which had broken out near the bar. "There is also a library should you require it, used by many... ignored by many."

Travesty's smiled grew. Yes, this would do nicely.

"We're only a small guild, due to our very nature, but as long as you keep to yourself I'm sure you'll fit right in."

He didn't like the way she stressed sure. It was as though she expected him to fail. He may be a newbie mage but he wasn't stupid. As far as he was concerned, keeping to yourself had nothing to do with fitting in. To do that you needed to make friends, forge camaraderie. If you refused to break eggs, you'd never make an omelette, that's what his mother used to say.

He felt a small pang of sadness in his chest, but he pushed it aside as Master Kami lead him upstairs towards her office, explaining along the way that there were restricted areas of both the library and the guild, reserved for the master, the official s-class mages (of which there was only one) and anyone else who had express permission from Kami herself.

However, he wasn't listening as nearly close as he should have been. He'd already spotted a couple of cute girls on the way up the grand staircase, and was wondering whether it was too soon to open a dialogue. He gave a little wave/salute and got a bashful smile in return.

"Nah, it's _never_ too soon to make new friends," he muttered to himself.

"What was that?"

"Oh, nothing. Nothing at all."

* * *

 **22th August X792 - The Road to Oleander - 10.46am**

Amaryllis let her arms flop limp. She walked a few good metres behind the rest of the group, dragging her feet through the dirt as if someone had worked a gravity spell on her. Though he clearly wanted to move on ahead, Valin stuck by her side taking it at leisurely trot so as not to provoke any more whining.

"If you wanted to walk home so bad, Wyvern, couldn't you have done it without me?"

"And leave you there for all the bad guys to get you?" He shouted from his position at the head of the group. "Nah!"

"My hero…" She rolled her eyes. "Seriously. Trains good. Walking bad."

"I don't know…" said Slyph, the nearest to her bar Valin, in a rare moment of self-initiated social interaction. He returned to the battered green book in his hand as he finished what he wanted to say. "Trains are cramped. At least walking is pickpocket free."

"That's so comforting," said Amaryllis drifting off into mumbling to herself. Occasionally words like feet, hurt, train and good could be heard but most of it remained an indistinct jumble.

Slyph shrugged, unwilling to tear his eyes from his reading. He didn't see a problem with walking back to Oleander and thought the girl was making far too big a deal out of a decision that ultimately benefitted the entire group. Besides he liked the scenery, and the exercise was a bonus. Not that there was anything wrong with trains, but at least out in the world, one foot in front of the other, there were more chances to be alone.

He glanced up, seeing a flash of movement in the corner of his eyes. Dreamer had dropped back to walk with him, although for the moment she didn't seem to want to say anything. He stared a moment longer just in case before returning to his book.

"Do you like horror?" she said out of the blue.

He sighed and flipped the book closed. He should have known a little kid like her would want attention. Why she'd want to talk to a loner like him was anyone's guess. "I don't mind it."

"I really like horror, you know," She was walking with her hands clasped behind her back, and had a noticeable spring in her step that cause her poofy purple skirt to bounce about. It made her look even younger than she already was. "It's like... you just know a guy's going to die a gruesome death at some point, but you don't know how, or when. It's fun."

"Horror... isn't just about gore," he countered. He'd read a bit of horror fiction, just enough to know what he liked and didn't like. Despite that, he was more into non-fiction, like the book on magic he was currently reading. "It's about atmosphere and psychological thrills."

"I guess," she replied, smiling at him. "But you can't beat some blood and guts."

He hung his head. _This girl has a screw loose. I'm sure of it._

Meanwhile, at the head of the group, Wyvern chuckled. Seeing everyone getting along, even the new guys, made him smile.

Their guild was a family, a family who hid deep, dark secrets from one another, but a family nevertheless. Every family had it's fair share of nuts, that he knew first hand, but you always looked out for one another. When the bandit's attacked and their fire mage singled him out, he'd wondered whether he'd make it, but everyone had his back, Slyph, Morph, Valin, even the girls in their own little way.

He looked at Morph, who was currently the giant-eyed, ringlet-haired blonde lolita. He'd never actually approved of Morph's methods. Even for Wild Masquerade shapeshifting seemed almost too underhanded... not to mention using others as bait. To top it all off, no one knew who Morph really was and Morph wasn't always willing to join in discussions, missions, sports or other competitive games. Not very 'family', but at the end of the day, the s-class shapeshifter did what was right. Wyvern couldn't fault her for that.

"So," he said, getting tired of the extended silence. "What do we know about Spectral Hand?"

"Not much," Morph said. "Just want I've told you to be honest."

"Do we know who their master is? Or where their base is?"

"Only rumours."

"Hmm…" It looked like harvesting a potato tree would have been easier today than extracting information from the shapeshifting mage. "What kind of rumours?"

Morph shrugged as if to say 'at least you're persistent'. "Their master is supposed to be a killer. Apparently, back when they were a legal guild, he was up for the position of wizard saint and he hasn't stopped training since. Of course then they turned, so..."

"Know why?" said Wyvern, pushing her harder to cough up the goodies.

"How long is a piece of string?"

"Twice as long as half a piece of string."

Morph giggled, mockingly. " _So_ quick-witted."

"Shut up."

After a few more minutes walking the open rolling hills gave way to a dash of small houses, and soon they could see the town's outer limits.

Not far outside of Oleander was a large crowd of people standing in a rough circular clump. Something must have happened judging by the loud murmur running this way and that through the throng. The crowd of townsfolk jostled to get a better look at whatever a piqued everyone's interest.

Instantly Morph was frowning, but instead of moving to investigate, she turned to the group. Wyvern stopped with haste doing his best not to fall into her.

"We need to get back to the guild. Right now."

"But what about-?" started Wyvern.

Morph rounded on him, growing slightly taller, usual cute round eyes becoming narrow and angry. "Now!"

"A-alright..."

The others gathered closer. Valin looked like he was itching to worm his way through the crowd and take a look. Morph pointed at the tabby in warning, but despite that he bounded off before the shapeshifter could catch him, disappearing amongst the legs and feet.

"Valin!" Amaryllis had only moved a fraction of an inch to run after him when Wyvern held her back.

"Morph," he said, addressing the shapeshifter mage without looking at her. "I trust you, but shouldn't we, this town's only guild, help out... if we can?"

"No," she said, "There is more at stake here than you understand."

Amaryllis shook her head in disagreement. "Come _on_. We don't even know what-?"

"Look!"

Everyone followed where Dreamer was pointing. They saw Valin running back over to them., He climbed straight up onto Amaryllis' shoulder to get the height to talk eye to eye with Morph.

"Someone's been murdered. I think it's about time we lend a hand," he insisted, baring his fangs slightly as he spoke.

"I'm the s-class mage here, and I'm ordering you now, so listen good. _All of you_. We need to go and tell Master Kami."

"What if-?"

"All of us. No ifs or buts."

Amaryllis furrowed her brow. Morph wouldn't back down, she could see that now. Although being so close to a dead body had her freaking out a little, she wanted to help, to investigate. You couldn't just murder someone a get away with it. Not when Wild Masquerade had the power to stop you.

Everyone else seemed just as torn by Morph's insistence. Dreamer had yet to take her eyes off the crowd. Her cute smile remained, although Amaryllis was sure it had drooped. Wyvern looked ready to burst at the seams. He was a hair's breadth from screaming, but, curiously, refused to argue any further. Slyph had finally put his book away, and even looked quite concerned for a change.

"Hmph," said Valin. He settled down into Amaryllis' shoulder with his head half buried in her dark purple hair, as though it were all he could do to stop himself from getting any angrier. "I don't know if this changes things, but people are talking about a red tipped arrow."

She could see him, if she turned her head, closing his eyes and feigning boredom. She knew for a fact he was fuming inside.

Morph cursed, and balled her fists. "Right. Come on."

* * *

 **22th August X792 - Wild Masquerade Guild Hall - 13:30pm**

Shiro sat in the window booth to the far right of the main hall, watching people come and go in contented solitude. Her red eyes flicked this way and that. Days when she could relax and not have to fight off obnoxious guild mates spoiling for a new sparring partner, or someone to accompany them on a job, were possibly the best.

There were a few new faces since she'd arrived back from her most recent mission, she noted. They brought the total to just over fifty mages. Not bad for a small, secretive guild such as theirs. Even though she had no desire to join in, seeing the place bustling with excitement almost brought a smile to her face. Almost.

Peering out through the bangs of her long white hair and the black material she wore over her eyes, she was naturally drawn to the loudest pair of mages currently around.

"I'm not _that_ bad with money!" Screamed the first, a woman known to the guild as Charles. She was older than Shiro, about twenty, had silvery blue hair in twin ponytails and wore a black bandana across her eyes. "The way you're going on you'd think I'm broke or something!"

"Oh sure, way to _exaggerate..._ " The second girl must have been a few years younger, thought Shiro. The way she used sarcasm and a serious attitude was no doubt supposed to make people think she was the more mature of the two despite her age.

Her mask was a simple blue domino mask that curled upwards into what reminded Shiro of devil horns. "Besides, _you_ came to talk to _me_. All I wanted was some peace and quiet. Not you blathering on about money."

"Ugh, you are _so_ naive, Paradox." Charles yanked on the collar of her denim jacket pulling her closer. "Jewel makes the world go round. It greased the gears. Know what I'm saying?"

"No, I get it," said Paradox, shrugging the older mage off and fixing her jacket. "But _surely_ you're the naive one. You spend so much you hardly have enough for food or rent!"

"And both those things are boring if you can't have a little fun too!"

"There's fun and then there's hemorrhaging money like it's going out of fashion." Paradox shoved Charles' shoulder hard, knocking her backwards.

Charles grunted as she hit the floor. "What the hell?! What was that for?"

Her hand went to the white sword hanging off her waist. From sitting on her arse, Charles sprang to her feet and unsheathed the sword in one fluid motion. " **Double Slash**!"

Two arcs of energy flew from her sword and spun towards Paradox. The denim-jacketed mage pulled her own black bladed sword from where it leant against the table leg. As she pulled it out of its scabbard, it ignited with black hell fire. She slashed once and knocked the first arc of energy off course. It spun wildly, narrowly missing the arm wrestling tournament and taking a good chunk out of the bar. She ducked under the second and sprang forward, wielding her blade against Charles.

The slashing magic user paled, expecting Paradox to actually stab her for a moment.

At the last second Paradox spoke a spell. " **Null blade**."

The black flaming sword passed straight through Charles' arm, cutting not her body but her magic reserves. Instantly weakened, Charles crumpled to the floor ineffectively catching herself with a chair. Her sword fell from her hand. She panted. Suddenly losing a portion of your magic sucked. She felt ill.

"Another thing you are," said Paradox, "is _way_ too stubborn. We've been through this exact fight before."

Shiro sighed. She placed a new pocky stick in her mouth and requipped a small throwing knife. Taking no more than a split second to aim, she flung the knife. Sailing through the crowd and staying true, it embedded itself in the sleeve of Paradox's jacket and pinned her to the table.

The feuding mages looked around confused, eventually spotting the quiet requip mage. One thing Shiro couldn't abide were comrades fighting. They didn't seem to understand how fragile life was, and how easily it could be extinguished. Arguments and infighting were the worse use of time she could think of.

Paradox freed herself from the table and looked as though she was about to retaliate, when one of the guild's new mages, a boy with long ivory hair and bandage wrapped arms, snuck up on the two girls and flung his arms around their shoulders.

"What's with all the frowning?" He said, flashing a cheesy grin. "I bet the two of you look a _lot_ prettier when you smile. Am I right?"

In a rare moment of synchronicity, Charles and Paradox elbowed Travesty in the gut.

He stumbled back clutching his stomach. " _Oof_ … Just a lucky strike."

He felt around his face finding his new mask had gone askew. It was a white masquerade mask, with intricate black designs. As Shiro had discovered herself in her first days with the guild, Master Kami had an unused supply in her office.

The two rival girls shook their heads in disgust.

"Come on you two," he said, smile returning to his face in the time it took to blink. "Let's see a smile!"

Shiro watched him stepped forward again, reaching out to Paradox. Before anyone could tell him how badly he'd read the situation, his fingers brushed the back of the girl's neck eliciting a high pitched squeal. She fell to the floor in a fit of heaving giggles, flailing wildly in the hope of knocking his hands away

"Uh… Yeah... so apparently you're ticklish..." he said, yanking his hand back before she had a chance to hit him.

Charles blinked for a second or two, before creasing up with laughter. Seeing Paradox in such a state just set her off.

Shiro shook her head. Her face remained perfectly neutral. Was there a rule somewhere that said every guild had to have its share of loud and raucous behaviour? If she'd known that then she might have thought twice about joining.

 _All in the life of a mage of Wild Masquerade._

* * *

 **22nd August X792 - Kami's office - 13:43**

Having, after considerable struggle, managed to get rid of the kids with the suggestion of grabbing some lunch and a nap, Morph made her way upstairs to Kami's office. She considered changing her appearance to her favourite old man/butler guise, but given the gravity of situation she stuck with the blonde lolita form for quickness.

She barged into the master's office without so much as a courtesy knock.

 _If_ Kami had been caught unaware she didn't show it in her expression. "S-class status does not give one permission to barge into my office. Now what is it, Morph? This has better be good."

" _Good_ isn't the word I'd use," said the gender-flip flopping shapeshifter. "There's been another murder."

"I'd heard." The master's expression was grim and serious. "Keystone's just told me."

"They're getting closer and closer to town. We should be more proactive."

Kami sighed. The stress of the situation wore heavy on her expression, despite her efforts to hide it. "For the moment the link is still in effect. They can't use magic within the town even if they were stupid enough to try. We should trust in that."

"But that's _clearly_ not stopping them from all this overkill!" Morph shouted. "I know a bit about organic link magic, and there's no reason to kill anyone to use an anti-link. So either they're a bunch of morons, or someone has a vendetta against the town. _Which is it_?"

Kami turned to look out of the window. "Thank you for your report, Morph. I'll take your comments into consideration."

"You know I don't mean to pry… this is still Wild Masquerade… but if you let me in on the secret I might be able to help."

"That'll be all, my dear. I'm sure you'll want to unwind from your recent mission."

Morph frowned. " _Fine,_ " she spat, turning to leave. "But don't you _dare_ say I didn't try to help when this secret of yours gets more innocents killed!"

* * *

 **A/n:** Whole buncha OCs there for you :) What do you think? Anyone you liked in particular?

At first I wanted to do a pure down time chapter just to have a bit of a break from all that setting up of plot lines… of course there's one terrible thing you should know about me... When it comes to weaving plot into supposedly plot-lite chapters, well, I just can't help myself. Plus Shouta Izukai submitted Travesty and I absolutely had to get that ball rolling after teasing the character way back in the prologue! :P

So. The announcements!

1) **I'm looking for two more villain characters for Wild Masquerade's upcoming debut arc, "The Deadly Secret".** They both have specific roles to fill within the antagonist group, so pm me for the details. Oh but don't worry, these roles are only a fraction of who they can potentially be. You still have all the creative freedom.

2) **Once we reach 15 WM mages in total, I won't be introducing any more OCs until after/towards the end of the upcoming arc.** Although I'll happily take your submissions as long as you understand they won't appear for a bit. This is purely because I don't want to end up accidentally neglecting anyone in the heat of writing the very first proper story in Wild Masquerade.

To keep updated with submission status keep an eye on my profile. I'll try to keep the count as accurate as possible. As of writing this there's 3 spots left for regular Wild Masquerade mages.

Now that's over, the reviews for the previous chapter!

WendyDokuro \- Thanks! Slyph is definitely an interesting one. Then again I think all the characters submitted so far are really interesting in their own special ways. For example, Dreamer wouldn't be Dreamer if she didn't ruin the mood somehow :P As for Spectral Hand, well, my lips are sealed, but you don't think I'd leave it at that, do you? XD

Savage324 \- I'm writing as quick as I can haha I'm glad you're enjoying yourself as much as you seem to be though. Thanks for your continued support! Without people like you I certainly wouldn't have the drive to pump these chapters out as fast as I am. Although I can't in good conscience promise every update will be as quick as these past couple… I'll do my best!

Third Cosmic Velocity \- Naturally I hope to spread the love around a little more in future chapters haha but I guess Wyvern just lends himself to being the butt of the joke huh! I hope you find the antics in the above chapter just as amusing! All I can say about Morph for the moment is: your confusion on gender is totally intended. That's not a mistake on my part. Again, you'll have to wait and see.


	6. Intro Arc - Ch05: No Holds Barred

**A/n** : Here we go again!

I don't own Fairy Tail.

New OCs Introduced

Phantom - Shouta Izukai

Confucius - Hong Cong

* * *

 **30th August X792 - The Mines of "Keelhaul" Brannaghan - Northern Fiore - Early Afternoon**

" **Phantom Light** ," he whispered. The mage's ghostly flames shot through his drawn sword and collected in a small flickering flame at the tip. It lit up his bleached white three quarter mask, and the white feather dangling from the single thin braid trailing down the side of his head.

He held the light aloft and pushed forward into the cave's darker side tunnel. At 5'5" he could just fit down the tunnel without stooping, but his much taller ivory-haired companion, at 5'10", was having some difficulty.

"Dude, useful spell," said Travesty.

The mage, Phantom, looked at his guild mate Travesty, his facial expression barely changing. His meaning was painfully clear to the more inexperienced guild member despite what little time they'd spent together so far. Travesty made a zipping motion across his lips.

The pair had been employed by the mayor of Stonecrop to clear the local mines of a suspected nest of violent monsters that were terrorising the miners. Being cut off from the surrounding area by the steep valley walls, the port town relied heavily on the mines for forge fuel and travelling merchants and mage guilds for anything they couldn't produce themselves.

Phantom ordinarily would have taken the job on his own. He had similar missions before, plus he was certain Kami trusted him enough alone. So having to drag along the new guy hadn't put him in the best of moods. To top it all off Travesty didn't seem to have an off button, then again in a guild strangely full of strong and silent types, the guy was bound to seem outgoing.

In the end, he'd seen no reason to argue which left him in his current situation…

They pushed through an even narrower opening in the tunnel and came out in a dark, cavernous chamber. Something smelt. Rotting carcasses perhaps. Phantom resisted the urge to shudder at the thought.

"Oh _jeez_ , that's not good." Travesty entered the chamber holding his nose.

" _Shut up_!" Hissed Phantom, holding the taller boy from stepping any further with his still lit sword.

There was a flapping of wings. A roar. The sound of something huge and lumbering coming their way.

"What was _that_?"

"If I'm right? A blind cave wyvern..." Whispered Phantom, bundling himself and Travesty quietly back against the safety of the cave wall. "And, since you can't shut up, it knows _exactly_ where we are."

* * *

 **30th August X792 - Wild Masquerade's Training Meadow - Early Afternoon**

" **Stone Quake,** " yelled the robed mage named Confucius, slamming his fists into the ground. His earth magic caused the ground to shake and in places rupture, knocking Wyvern off balance.

"I _said_ I was sorry!" shouted the dragon slayer, hand springing back to his feet. "It's just a bunch of rocks. You could always stack 'em again."

At 7 foot, Confucius was a tall tanned man who dwarfed not only Wyvern but the majority of the guild. He was 27 but seemed much older to Wyvern due to his usually gentle, meditative nature and intimidating stature. He folded his huge, muscular arms and closed his eyes. His mask, like Wyvern's, was shaped in the form of a dragon's head, but the ex-monk's was far more detailed in yellows, reds and browns with a yin yang symbol on its forehead. Someone had taken far more care in crafting it.

"The re-stacking is not the issue, young one," he said, "I hear an apology, but I don't yet _feel_ it."

"What do you want me to _do_ exactly?"

Suffice to say, Wyvern had gotten into a 'minor' scuffle with another mage in the middle of the hall that afternoon. Confucius had been quietly meditating in the corner, amongst his rocks which were stacked in trigram form to allow for better flow of energy, when the slayer barrelled past and tripped, causing a miniature avalanche. The monk saw red and chased Wyvern out into the meadow demanding an apology.

Confucius thought for a moment. "I think it would be sufficient for you to help me re-organise, since you are to blame for the mental disarray."

Wyvern quirked an eyebrow. " _Right_ now?"

"What _else_ are you doing?"

"Uh…" He glanced around, hasty to find an excuse, and spotted Amaryllis, Valin and Dreamer sitting toward the edge of the meadow watching Sterling taking on Paradox and Charles at the same time. Sterling's entire body burnt with a dark hell fire that Wyvern recognised as belonging Paradox. He was using it to fend off Charles' slashing magic while dodging Paradox's null blade.

"I, uh was.. going to join the others for a battle, tournament... thing" he said, blurting out the final half of the sentence. He backed away from Confucius taking care not to move too quickly or make too much noise.

Confucius opened one eye just a fraction to stare him down. "I know you're lying, Wyvern."

"No I'm not," the dragon slayer said, eyes darting this way and that. "I just haven't told them yet!"

The monk shook his head at the teen. Though a small smile played across his face, it was hidden by his mask.

Eventually he continued, "Fine. I will compete in your tournament, but in return request your help arranging my rocks."

Wyvern's shoulders slumped. He couldn't see another way to get out of it. Although, now he had time to consider it, having a little competition sounded like a brilliant way to liven up a lazy afternoon lacking in excitement.

"Ugh… _alright_. You win."

"I never intended to win. You've merely seen the error of your ways."

"It was an accident!"

"One you must put right if you are to grow as a person."

"You don't give up, do you?"

"Or is it that you back down far too easily?"

Wyvern roared in frustration. A tiny cloud of leaves and splinters puffed from his mouth. "Stop with the philosophical crap, already!"

"... At it again I see..." Mumbled Shiro on her way past the pair.

"Wuh?"

Wyvern watched her walk towards the others and sit herself down a good few metres away so she wouldn't have to talk to anyone. She seemed to want to watch Sterling take on Paradox and Charles, but she made it look as though absolutely anything else in the world would have been more interesting.

Confucius nodded sagely.

"What _are_ you agreeing with now?"

"She has a point," the giant monk said.

"Which would be?"

Unfolding his arms in favour of clasping them behind his back, Confucius also made his way over to the sparring match without furnishing the dragon slayer with an answer. He elected to remain standing, looming over proceedings in a way that made Amaryllis shudder.

Wyvern shook his head. "I'm _never_ gonna get the last word with that guy…"

* * *

 **30th August X792 - Wild Masquerade's Training Meadow - Later**

At first Wyvern was sure he'd gotten away with it. But when things had settled down from the girl's defeat to Sterling's Collector Magic, Confucius told everyone of the tournament, and how it was Wyvern's idea. All it took was Dreamer agreeing that it was a wonderful idea and now everyone wanted to take part.

Word got around quickly after that and soon even Slyph and Morph had joined them. The later, having switched back to his butler form, dragged with him a large dry erase board and a sequin-covered mystery box.

Once they had it settled where everyone could see it, Morph tapped the board with the back of a marker pen and a 10-man league table faded into view. "If we're going to do this, we do it properly."

"Oh hey," said Wyvern. "I forgot we had that old thing."

"Is there going to be prize?" said Charles, sticking her hand in the air. "'Cause I have a few ideas"

Paradox groaned and pinched the bridge of her nose. "I _swear_ … if you bring up money again…"

"You'll what?" The steel-blue haired mage whirled around to face her, fire in her eyes.

"Leave it for the battles, ladies," said Morph, cutting in before things got out of hand. He walked over the box and lifted the lid, counting whatever was inside before replacing it. The box had a hand sized hole cut in the top.

Sterling chuckled. "Yeah, wouldn't want you two tiring yourselves out."

"Shut up!" The pair said in unison. Sterling held up his hands in truce and backed off.

"The first round will consist of a series of 3 minute fights," said Morph, "Basic ring knock-out rules, and we'll draw numbers for each fight, like so."

He tapped the board once more and the numbers written beside each name box on the league tables randomised. He then dipped his hand into the sequined box and drew a small white ball with the number 9 on it. That put him up against whoever ended up with number 4.

Those who'd been in the guild long enough know better gulped, wishing in unison that they didn't draw the 4 ball.

" _So_ ," he said, placing his ball down and uncapping the pen. As he wrote his name on the board in the relevant space, he continued, "come and grab a number."

Sterling went next drawing the number 10. He set it down next to Morph's and stood off the side to allow the others their turn.

Paradox went next, drawing a 6. She looked up at the board as Morph wrote in her name and immediately frowned. She slammed the ball down with the rest.

Charles burst out laughing. "You against Sterling? So soon after he beat your arse?"

Sure enough 10 sat right next to the number 6 on the league table. She couldn't help but chuckle as she thrust her hand in to the box and drew a 7.

This went on until it came to the final person. Dreamer. So far she'd been content to watch how things unfolded. A deathly silence fell over the crowd. Anyone who'd been paying attention knew exactly who the girl was up against, but it took Morph writing her name next to his own to bring it home. Naturally her smile didn't falter one bit.

Wyvern blinked. "Of all possible match-ups… Is that really fair?"

"Never argue with a number draw," said Valin. He rolled his cat eyes, amused by the absurdity of it all.

Valin was right of course, thought Wyvern, you couldn't argue with the luck of the draw, or the whole system would break down. This was probably the fairest method he could think of. Though he would have rather chosen who to fight given the chance.

After Morph had finished writing in each name, he stood back. Each of the boxes on the magical board reordered themselves once more to reveal the final running order:

Match 1:

9 Morph vs 4 Dreamer

Match 2:

10 Sterling vs 6 Paradox

Match 3:

7 Charles vs 2 Amaryllis/Valin

Match 4:

1 Wyvern vs 5 Shiro

Match 5:

3 Confucius vs 8 Slyph

Slyph looked from the board up at the intimated figure that was Confucius, standing almost directly behind him. They nodded cordially at each other. If one of them was perturbed by the thought of fighting the other, neither showed it.

Shiro took one look at Wyvern, shrugged and went back to ignoring everyone. Wyvern took it on the chin. He knew how the girl got in social situations and wasn't about it push it. The only time he wanted to be on the receiving end of one of her throwing knives was in battle.

Amaryllis, with Valin perched on her shoulder, greeted Charles with an outstretched hand. "I don't think we've met before, but I'm Amaryllis, and this is Valin."

"How's it going?" Charles huffed, still upset over her idea of a cash prize getting shot down.

"Good luck, I guess," added Valin. "May the best mage win."

"We'll see."

Close by Morph smiled at Dreamer. If anything he looked creeped out by the 12 year old's constant grin, but a match-up was a match-up and they'd have to make the most of it. Not that he relished the idea of fighting a little girl like her with his full strength.

"I don't mind going easy on you. If that helps?"

"Why would you do that?"

"I'm the guild's only s-class mage, you're-"

"Happy to fight you with all I've got," said Dreamer, interrupting the shape-shifting mage with her own ending to the sentence. "I don't really know how it'll turn out, but that's probably half the point."

Morph shrugged. He couldn't fault her attitude. "If that's the way you want to do this..."

Wyvern cornered Dreamer and looked her in the eyes. "I get that nothing much fazes you, but no one would blame you if you backed out."

"Don't worry about me," she said, placing a hand on his shoulder. "I know Morph is strong, but I have a plan."

The green-haired dragon slayer sucked air in through his teeth. "I'm not sure that's going to help much... "

"Have faith." She cut the conversation short, walking away from the board to stand ready for her match against Morph. She called back over to Wyvern. "If you're actually _capable_ of trust that is."

Wyvern gritted his teeth, and muttered to himself. "Stupid kid… _of course_ I have faith… doesn't know what she's talking about..."

Once a ring was marked out in the meadow, with the boundaries as clear as possible, the group agreed to take a half hour break to warm up and make preparations.

* * *

 **30th August X792 - The Mines of "Keelhaul" Brannaghan - Northern Fiore - Early Afternoon**

The blind cave wyvern snorted, blowing both boy's long hair back in a wave of putrid breath. Neither moved a muscle.

Travesty kept his eyes firmly on the wyvern. He'd seen a few pictures of its green wyvern and blizzardvern cousins and had to admit, cave wyvern's were just as scary looking. The main differences he could see in the partial darkness were it's pale, almost translucent, skin and total lack of eyes. As it shifted around in front of them in an attempt to figure out where they were, he saw it's small, underdeveloped wings. The creature lived it's entire life in dark caves. It had no use for functional wings, but that didn't make the situation any less dire.

Phantom stuck out his arm as gently as he could to hold the newbie mage back. He shook his head.

The moment the wyvern backed off, Phantom tumbled to the side. His sword extinguished itself, plunging the cave into total darkness.

Travesty panicked for a second. He knew there wasn't any love between them, but would Phantom really leave him in the dark to fend for himself? Surely guild mages were more loyal to their comrades than that...

" **Path Light!** " Came his yelling voice from somewhere behind the monstrous creature, dispelling Travesty's fears.

In seconds a series of ghostly wisps had surrounded the wyvern, picking out various spots on its body. Though it couldn't see them, the wyvern seemed to sense them. It thrashed left and right, trying to shake them off whatever way it could.

Thankfully, whatever the spell was supposed to do, it lit the cave enough to pick out the beast's shadow against the floor. Travesty grinned. Phantom probably had a plan of his own, but given that the creature could kill them both with a well placed swipe of it razor sharp claws Travesty wasn't willing to hang around and see how things panned out.

With one foot planted on the floor, he stamped forward into a wide-spread sideways horse stance. " **Dark Trap!** "

His magic shot down his leg and out through his foot into the wyvern's shadow, creating a series of interlocking spell seals.

It's thrashing became less violent and more desperate as it realised it couldn't move it's feet. Dark trap worked by pinning an opponent's shadow to the ground, and would stay in effect as long as Travesty could keep a part of his body in contact with it. The wyvern still had enough freedom to attack them if it wanted, but at least this way, it wouldn't be able to slink back into the darkness.

Phantom let himself smile for once, but wasted no time in getting back to the job at hand. He front somersaulted, putting his acrobatic skills to good use, and jabbed at the beast. A ghostly spear of light extended front the tip of his sword and struck the wyvern in the soft flesh just beneath it's useless wings where one of the path lights hung.

The wyvern roared in pain. An indistinct number of its nest mates dropped from the ceiling and into the darkness beyond the glow of Phantom's path light.

Travesty ducked beneath a flailing limb. It was only then that he figured out what the spell did. "Oh cool, they pick out weak points!"

He clapped his hand to his mouth. It was far too late. The wyvern lunged forward and slammed its thick shoulder into Travesty, knocking the mage clear off the ground. Free of the dark trap, it used it's strong leg muscles to leap back and put distance between itself and the pests looking to hurt it.

"What did I _just_ say?!" Hissed Phantom, dodging the beast's tail. His path lights spluttered out and the cave went dark once more.

He'd done his best to memorise the wyvern's weakness before the spell ran out, but wasn't convinced it would make much difference.

" **Phantom Light**." As swung his sword, he flung medium-sized ghostly flames around the cavernous space, using them like signal flares. The falling, arcing lights picked out a number of rapidly shifting shadows, not only giving Travesty something to work with, but alerting the pair to a number of other wyverns hanging from the ceiling above them, not to mention the darting shapes of the beasts already closing in on them.

Travesty pushed up off the ground and took his chance to counter-attack. " **Shadow make: Fist.** "

Using his maker magic, he pulled in shadows from all around them, and swung his fist in the direction of the first wyvern. A massive balled fist made of pure solidified shadow crashed into the beast's side, knocking it off balance. He swung against with the other arm and sent another shadow fist at it driving it deeper into the cave.

Using his agility, Phantom managed to keep out of the way of the two or three attacking wyverns, even though he couldn't tell exactly how many of them there were. As soon as one light burned out, he'd create another. Even if he didn't want the guy around, the least he could do was provide his team mate with the right conditions for his magic.

When the initial wyvern didn't return, Phantom felt the first jolt of possible victory. Maybe the shadow make mage had done just enough damage to scare it off. If they could keep this up, they'd be done sooner than he thought. Then again, fighting off wyverns with a view to survival was one thing, but making sure they wouldn't bother the miners again? That would be the difficult part.

He only hoped an answer would reveal itself before either of them used up their magic reserves.

* * *

 **A/n:** Alright guy and girls, we're in the home stretch now. Only a few more chapters left before the first proper arc kicks off!

I want to take this chance to thank everyone who's contributed so far. You've really brought my various vague notions alive with all your wonderful characters for both Wild Masquerade and the villains, Spectral Hand (Thank you klbubblepop786 and Savage324 for those). And I'm super glad we've gotten this far in all honesty, because 1) I get to crack out a story that's been rumbling around my mind for a fair while now, and 2) you guys finally get to meet some more of the main antagonists and learn what they're all about.

If you have yet to submit a character, I'm still willing to take a few more. **HOWEVER** I have just one further character to introduce in the next couple of chapters and after her that's it. Any more will have to wait to be intro'd later on probably towards to end of the Deadly Secret Arc or at the start of the next. They'll also be new to the guild (like the later introductions of Gajeel, Juvia and Wendy I suppose). This is only for the sake of story cohesiveness, of course, as I wouldn't want to put myself in a position where I can't devote enough time to a brand new character.

Anyway, sorry for that wall of text! Keep all your feedback, comments, suggestions and idea submissions coming!


	7. Intro Arc - Ch06: Rematch

OCs Introduced

Valentine - Hong Cong

* * *

 **30th August X792 - Stonecrop Mining Camp - Northern Fiore - Afternoon**

Mayor Heep, a burly man who seemed to be wearing a flannel shirt at all times, watched the mine shaft entrance with baited breath. He'd sent the strange masked mages into the mines almost three hours ago now, and he was beginning to worry. His town didn't get enough trade as it was without adding to it news of the unfortunate deaths of two guild mages.

Half the town had gathered around him, and many of the miners too. As they waited, timed ticked by at the speed of a glacier. At least that's what it felt like.

Eventually one of the townsfolk called out. " _Look!_ "

They followed their pointing into the darkness of the mouth of the mine shaft. Two figures emerged from the darkness.

* * *

 **30th August X792 - Wild Masquerade's Makeshift Tournament Ring**

"You _sure_ you still want to do this?" Said Morph.

Dreamer nodded. "No holding back. Please. I want to hurt you… On my own terms."

The shapeshifter sighed, knowing there wasn't a good way out of the fight… Not a pleasant, honourable one at least, not one Dreamer would accept. Morph slipped out of his butler guise and into a younger, more lithe male form with a bare chest and a long red braid hanging down his back.

"Come on then. Let's get this over with."

"Ready?" Called Wyvern, taking Morph's place as ref for that match. When the both of them had nodded their agreement, he yelled, "Start!"

Dreamer's smile widened. She waved her hand in a slow arc and disappeared from view before Morph had even moved. He stumbled forward battle honed reactions failing him without a target to aim at. Despite knowing full well her skills lay in illusions he hadn't expected the twelve year old to pull a disappearing act right off the bat.

Morph shook his head and folded his arms. He stepped back into the dead centre of the ring and to everyone's surprise, began to chuckle.

"I know what you're doing, Dreamer, and it's quite a genius little plan to be fair to you." He closed his eyes. "It won't work though."

At least half a minute passed with no sign of the creepy little white haired mage. Suddenly Morph whirled around and grabbed at thin air near the ring boundary, his red braid whipping forward over his shoulder. It took a second for everyone to register what had happened. Confucius nodded in appreciation, while Wyvern looked as confused as ever.

It all became clear when Dreamer's illusion broke to reveal her held aloft by her neck. Amaryllis gasped. Morph wasn't squeezing hard by any means but it wasn't difficult to see the pain she was in from being caught. Shiro winced.

The shapeshifter took a couple of easy steps forward until Dreamer's entire body was outside of the ring and dropped her.

Wyvern opened his mouth to announce the winner and the end of the match, but stopped in his tracks when Dreamer shattered as she hit the ground. Another illusion.

Little more than a split second after that, a force hit Morph in the back, though he didn't move much if at all. The real Dreamer faded into view, attempting to wrap her short arms around his shoulders, but Morph wasn't having any of it. He reached back using his current form's increased flexibility to get hold of her. He twisted, flinging Dreamer off his back and out of the ring with very little effort.

Everyone hung with baited breath until it became obvious that, this time, it wasn't an illusion.

"D-dreamer's out... Morph wins," announced Wyvern.

Although not a surprising outcome, the dragon slayer felt awe at the ease of which Dreamer had almost double or triple bluffed an s-class mage. Pretty impressive for just a kid. Of course, Morph knew just how to win. As always.

Amaryllis dashed to the fallen girl, Valin trotting up behind them. She reached out to her immobile form.

"Umm… Are, are you okay?"

For a moment it looked as though Dreamer had been knocked out, but she sprung upright, a serene grin plastered across her face.

Morph seemed to breath a sigh of relief. One thing he didn't want to do was explain to Kami exactly how he'd managed to beat up and knock out a twelve year old girl far below his power level.

"I'm fine," said Dreamer. She looked up at the shapeshifter. Her expression appeared to waver, but only enough that Morph was the only one to spot it.

"You did good," he said, wondering what was going on behind that facade of hers.

She'd taken something to heart that much was certain. Most mages found themselves questioning their abilities after a fight with him, no matter how well they did. Maybe that was it?

Dreamer nodded slowly. Her way of showing thanks. "And I'll do better next time."

* * *

Shiro watched on from the sidelines. Her usual disinterested, aloof facade had crumbled. Though she felt panic and adrenaline tensing up her body she tried to hide it the best she 's fight against Morph had her shaken. Seeing the little girl caught round the throat by an opponent bigger and far more powerful than her, stirred something long buried within Shiro.

Even though the fight was unfair that wasn't the problem. In life unfair things often happened and sooner or later everyone had to come to terms with that. No… It was the image itself. Powerful hands around a young girl's throat. A body being tossed aside with little effort.

Shiro shook her head, driving the past as far down in her mind as she could. One thing differed from the images of the past flashing through her mind. Dreamer was alive; Slightly bruised, mentally and physically no doubt, but altogether okay. She couldn't say the same for…

 _No. Don't think about that. It's over. Long gone..._ She stopped her train of thought dead and focused instead on the group of mages before her and how much they reveled in the chance to test their strength.

It was time like that Shiro was thankful her mask covered her eyes entirely. She didn't need anyone seeing her pain. At least with them hidden from view she could lie convincingly.

The requip mage took a deep breath. She walked over to Dreamer and offered the girl a hand, much to everyone's surprise.

Dreamer blinked, unsure how to take the gesture.

Shiro coughed. "I'm glad you are okay."

"Thank you." The twelve year old took the older girl's hand and pulled herself to her feet. "You have pretty hair."

Amaryllis raised an eyebrow. She could have sworn she saw the tiniest of pinkish glows on Shiro's pale cheeks. Was she embarrassed? Amaryllis didn't know the girl well by any means. Nevertheless she didn't seem to the type.

"Eh?" Wyvern peered at Shiro. "Are you _blushing_? You _are_ aren't you."

Amaryllis cringed. He just had to say what everyone was thinking, didn't he?

A vein pulsed on Shiro's forehead. She stuck out her hand and took hold of the throwing knife that materialised from her requip space, stalking menacingly towards him.

Immediately Wyvern took a step back. "Hey, whoa, don't flay me _before_ our match!"

"Give me one good reason," the requip mage snarled.

"I'm too young and useful to be a slayer shish kebab!" He turned and ran as fast as he could.

Shiro gave pursuit, easily gaining on him.

* * *

 **30th August X792 - Stonecrop - Northern Fiore - Late Afternoon**

Phantom and Travesty emerged from the mine shaft entrance looking worse for wear. Phantom's cloak was torn in numerous places and the bandages around Travesty's hands and arms hung loose and ragged. Both sported a fine series of cuts, scrapes and bruises.

Despite looking like they had been beaten to a pulp, the reappearance of the mage duo from Wild Masquerade elicited cheers and applause from the gathered crowd.

"They don't even know what happened down there..." Grumbled Travesty.

"All they care for," replied Phantom, keeping his voice low, "is the show of strength. And that good for our reputation."

Mayor Heep stepped to meet them. He spoke in a loud, booming bass for the benefit of the townsfolk. "Boys! Good news I presume?"

Phantom's face remained blank and impassive. "You guys mined straight into a nest of cave wyverns."

"And..." The mayor chuckled nervously. "And will they be bothering us any more? After all, boys, that's what I'm paying you for."

"Probably not," said Travesty shaking his head. His began to re-wrap the bandages on his arms.

The mayor glanced round at the crowd, whose growing confusion was clear as day. He leaned in and whispered, " _Probably_?"

"Yeah, well, we chased them out of the mines," said Travesty. "But they're still down there in the cave system. Can't promise they won't come back... eventually."

Mayor Heep pulled back and let out of jolly peel of laughter for the sake of the crowd. "And so you vanquished the beasts? Good show!"

Phantom sighed at the display. Travesty merely scratched the back of his head. The mayor had an image to uphold and a town to keep calm and docile. The better the spin he could put on it the better. Mayor Heep wrapped his arms around their shoulders and lead them away from the mine a through the crowd. Phantom didn't appreciate the physical contact, but the man had an iron grip.

"Now I know you'll want to be getting back to your guild for some well earned rest and relaxation," he said to them both, "but I have a proposal for you."

Phantom eyed the man for a second before relenting. "As long as you compensate us appropriately, I don't see a problem."

"Good, good." Now they were out of the crowd, he turned to face them but kept them in his iron grip. "A few of my citizens have—how should I put this?— _problems_ they need solving. I would appreciate it if you boys could stay with us a little while longer and… _Lend a hand_."

Travesty shrugged, "I don't see why not."

* * *

Not half an hour later, Travesty found himself chasing a runaway chicken through the town armed with nothing more than a net.

" _Now_ I see why not..." he said.

He made a lunge for the wily bird extending his reach with his shadow make magic but it squarked and once again leaped out of reach with a flap of it's wings.

The mage sighed. He sidestepped into the dark alley between a house and the bakery and merged into the shadows. "Shadow Travel."

* * *

Meanwhile, Phantom sat on a tiny stool, drinking imaginary tea from an equally tiny cup. On top of his head was a plastic toy tiara and drawn on his mask in pink pen was a rough heart outline.

"Are you enjoying your tea and scones, Princess Lovely Face?" Said the small girl sitting opposite him, none other than the daughter of the mayor.

Phantom looked into the empty cup with a frown then back up at the little girl.

"Now _don't_ look at me in that tone of voice, princess," said the little girl with a pout that could trip someone over, " _You're_ the one who asked me for a tea party. Next you'll be telling me you don't want any of my famous mud pie!"

* * *

 **30th August X792 - Wild Masquerade's Tournament Ring - Evening**

Night had almost fallen, but that didn't stop the mages of Wild Masquerade from pushing on with the next match of Wyvern's tournament. The later it got, the more crowded the training meadow had become as people started to return home from their missions. The air buzzed with excitement. Torches dotted the edge of the main ring, already burning in case the fight drew on into darkness.

Confucius stood in anticipation of the bout between Sterling and Paradox. It promised to be a good one. Though he knew he should have made Wyvern re-stack the rocks he'd knocked over before he forgot, he was actually enjoying the tournament. The troublesome slayer's punishment could wait. Breaking up such a pleasant atmosphere simply would not do.

"Terran."

Even before the woman had opened her mouth he'd sensed her coming. She had an aura about her. A sweet smelling flower scent that had enthralled him since they were young.

"How long have we been part of this guild now Valentine? And yet you still use that name."

"Well I can't get used to Confucius," she said, righting her green brimmed hat the wind was trying in vain to dislodge. "So you'll just have to put up with ' _oi, you_ ', won't you."

Valentine was a tall woman, one of the tallest in the guild it seemed, but she wasn't overly muscular, and certainly not masculine by anyone's standards. Her body was replete with killer curves and she had sizable chest. Her purple top was, as always, terribly low cut, by Confucius' standards at least, showing off her pink guild mark rather too well. A part of him didn't mind—he was still male, last he checked—but another wanted her to cover up. But it wouldn't do to upset her, so instead of worrying himself about it, he closed his eyes once more to try and regain some inner balance.

"Ignoring the fact I know something's on your mind," she said with a chuckle. "Are you looking forward to this match?"

He made an affirmative noise, before speaking, "I _am_ interested in whether Paradox has improved since the last time I saw her spar with Sterling."

"I'm sure she has," replied Valentine. "She has the drive, I guess."

"Aye, this will be quite intriguing," he said, his usual firm, immovable expression breaking into a smile.

Valentine shook her head. "That monastery tried to stamp happiness out of you… But little Terran is still in there somewhere."

She stepped closer and threaded her arm through his. Confucius coughed and turned his head away from her, but did not flinch.

"And you never change, _Orchid_ ," he said, "It's admirable. In a way."

She raised an eyebrow at the Earth-wielding monk. "In a way? What's that supposed to mean, mister?"

"What do you want it to mean?"

"Oh no." She let go of his arm with a short, somewhat playful huff. "No, no. None of that unanswerable question crap. You know better."

The smile slipped from his face to be replaced by the usual impenetrable calmness.

"And now you're not gonna say anything…" said Valentine, " _Brilliant_."

Thankfully, Morph stepped to the ring and drew everyone's attention with the clap of his hands, giving Confucius the perfect excuse to not reply.

"Alright everyone," said the shapeshifter, "This one is between the ever resourceful Sterling and his opponent young Paradox. Same rules apply as before. Are the competitors ready?"

Paradox nodded with finality, choosing for once to ignore the sly ageist insult from Morph. "Bring it on!"

The creases around Sterling's eyes gave away the fact he was smiling beneath his mask. "If you think you're ready for it?"

"You'll soon find out." She drew her sword and set it alight with hell fire.

Sterling eyed her sword. Such a typical opening move. "I'm sure of it."

"Okay," said Morph, "Begin!"

Despite the call to start, neither opponent moved. They began to circle one another. Searching for a momentary weaknesses in the other's guard. Even though Sterling himself had been the one to teach her the value of giving the opponent the chance to dig their own grave, she knew she had no choice but to implement everything she could to get the upper hand. If Wild Masquerade had more than one s-class mage at a time, Sterling would surely be a contender.

But where would he be without his oh-so-unique magic?

First to break, Paradox sliced forward. " **Null blade**."

Sterling twisted out of the way of the attack's magic leaching blade. "Fair move," he goaded, "but you could do better."

He struck while she was on the back foot with a simple jab to the ribs. Staggering her stance, he swept low with his leg, looking to knock her clean over but Paradox managed to catch herself with one arm.

"Okay then, hot shot," she said, "Let's try something different. **Partial Takeover: Demon Soul!** "

The hell fire spread from her blade up her arm to the shoulder. Her nails shifted into a nasty looking set of claws. Finally, beneath the dark fire, her skin blackened and took on a slight scaly appearance. As she pushed back onto her feet, Paradox threw down her sword. It was only a partial takeover, but she hoped it would be enough. Of course with no guarantee she could pull off a full transformation, it kind of had to be.

Sterling chuckled. "Now _that's_ more like it!"

* * *

 **30th August X792 - Stonecrop - Northern Fiore - Night**

After spending the better part of forever dealing with the town's petty problems, Phantom and Travesty left town heading in the direction of Oleander and what passed for sanity at the guild.

Meanwhile a new arrival snuck into Stonecrop in the dead of night, using the empty streets as an excuse to walk out in the open every now and then. They watched from behind a railings as a solitary figure trudged between street lamps. He dispelled the lacrima—casting their soft glow across the otherwise bleak mining town—with the click of a large lighter shaped contraption.

The new arrival muttered to himself, providing a running commentary quiet enough that only he could here it.

"... And you know what? If they don't want to get their hands dirty, why join in the first place? Bloody baffling… I mean _seriously_. Even I can do-"

His babbling stopped from a moment as he glanced back over his shoulder. The motion knocked his hood down to reveal a wide eyed young man with the look of a street urchin about him.

"Nah," he continued, "they wouldn't come after me here, would they? No... Master showed them… It's all good… Pull it together, Twitch. S'all good.."

He began to once more stalk the lamp extinguisher down the street. He drew a dagger from within his cloak. It's glowing red tip glittered in the moonlight.

Something tipped over. The clattering of metal against stone made Twitch, also known to some as the Ranger, jump out of his skin with a yelp that pierced the night.

The man snuffing out the street lamps whirled around. "Who's there?"


	8. Intro Arc - Ch07: The Stolen Spell

**A/n** : So you may have noticed a lack of consistent activity from me recently... Sorry! I've been swamped. I've not had masses of motivation to write either. Unfortunately that means I'm going to have to publish a shorter chapter this time round. I'll make up to you when I can though.

Good news is, guys and gals, this is officially the final introduction before the Deadly Secrets arc kicks off. Hope you're all looking forward to it!

I'll start replying to reviews again at the end of the next chapter.

New OCs

Rose - klbubblepop786

* * *

 **Then**

"Okay then, hot shot," she said, "Let's try something different. **Partial Takeover: Demon Soul Khan!** "

The hell fire spread from her blade up her arm to the shoulder. Her nails shifted into a nasty looking set of claws. Finally, beneath the dark fire, her skin blackened and took on a slight scaly appearance. As she pushed back onto her feet, Paradox threw down her sword. It was only a partial takeover, but she hoped it would be enough. Of course with no guarantee she could pull off a full transformation, it kind of had to be.

Sterling chuckled. "Now _that's_ more like it!"

* * *

 **Now**

Paradox flung a ball of hellfire at the amused Sterling. The older mage dodged, but barely.

"See?" He teased, patting out a few smoldering sparks in his dark hair. "Now you're taking things seriously."

"Recall" Sterling leaped into the air. "Blue Surge!"

As he fell back down towards the ground, his body crackled with vibrant blue electricity. All of a sudden he disappeared. Next anyone knew, Paradox lay in the centre of the ring, flat on her back. She clutched her demonic arm to her stomach, spasming slightly from the attack. Sterling reappeared nearby.

Meanwhile, Amaryllis had trouble processing what she'd just witnessed. She blinked. "What just happened?"

"Sterling's Blue Surge," said Morph, moving up behind her. "It's a temporary spell that allows him to move like a lightning bolt… Man, that gave us a lot of trouble back in the day."

"Back in the day?"

"Sterling uses collector magic. It's turned his body into a kind of magical computer able to store and recall spells he's studied in the past at will," explained the shapeshifter with a nostalgic smile. "A year or two ago the guild came into contact with a dark lightning wizard and… Well, she gave us quite the run around with that Blue Surge."

Wyvern nodded. He had his arms folded and eyes closed, as though he were trying to look as sagely as possible. "Sterling has a trick for every occasion."

"I wouldn't go _that_ far..." Chuckled Morph, "It's powerful, but it has its limits."

"You're s-class. You _would_ say that," the dragon slayer grumbled, recalling a previous training session that had gone decidedly pear shaped. He'd never found a way to combat Sterling's magic. Good thing they weren't enemies...

Amaryllis turned back to the battle. I can't believe there's so many strong mages in this guild…

Paradox stood, shaking, and once more faced Sterling with her hellfire-coated demon arm. "There should be a rule against using your recall spells."

Sterling shrugged, "If you need a handicap-"

"Like I'd give you the satisfaction." Her breath was deep and ragged, and the look in her eyes could have turned sugar sour.

"Tell you what," said Sterling, "Let's level the playing field… **Connect!** "

Despite the distance between them, a magic circle burst across her demonic arm with a matching one appearing at the fingertips of his right arm.

" _What_?!"

"You didn't think that Blue Surge was for just show did you? I could have pushed you out of the ring right there and then, but I chose not to. Why?"

"You..." Frustration bubbled within her. He must have used the speed spell to get the skin-on-skin contact needed to activate his signature move. Which meant only one thing. "You're toying with me, aren't you!"

"A good tactician never reveals his ace too soon," he replied, eyes showing a grin as the Connect spell took hold.

The magic circle passed up and across his arm, blackening his now scaly skin until he looked somewhat like a carbon copy of Paradox's take over. The streak of colour in his hair darkened to the same shade as Paradox's hair and lengthened overall.

Using the stolen Takeover, Sterling leaped forward with a newfound strength. The pair clashed over and over, now evenly match thanks in part to Sterling's back of the hand familiarity with her abilities. Each tried to force the other out of the ring with sheer strength. All to no avail. They'd sparred so many times in the past that neither gave an opening.

* * *

Looking down on them through her office window, Kami sighed. She heard of Wyvern's little tournament and wondered just how long it would take for some wanton property damage to occur. Surely not long considering who was involved. Thankfully Morph was there to reign them in.

She shuddered, and looked at her office door just before a knock sounded. "Come in."

The door opened and Kami was confronted with the newest face in the guild.

The woman had fiery red hair falling to her shoulders. Her black hockey mask, with gold symbol on the forehead, had been shattered into the top corner revealing her right eye. She wore a black sleeveless top, a black scarf around her neck, white trousers and golden armlets around her biceps.

Though naturally Kami knew next to nothing about her, she seemed to carry herself in a way that suggested leadership. Maybe it was her posture, or the enchanted gun at her hip. Although more than likely her tendency towards micromanaging was the dead give away.

"What can I do for you today, Rose?" Said Kami.

"I know I've not been here long, Master," Rose subconsciously rubbed the fresh guild mark on the back of her hand, "But… Well I question the effectiveness of letting our guild members fight like that in full view of anyone walking by."

Kami narrowed her eyes for a moment, in thought, before relaxing into a smile. "I question it daily myself, dear."

"If it were up to me, I'd set aside an area _behind_ the guild hall."

"It's just the way things work here, Rose," said Kami, trying to be diplomatic despite the anger she felt. The mage had only been part of the guild for three days and already she was a frequent visitor and busybody to boot. "Best not think about it, okay?"

"It's just that we could do with an image upgrade," Rose explained, "There can't be much money in being so secretive."

"Like I said, it just doesn't work that way."

"But what if-"

"I'm going to level with you, Rose," said Kami cutting across her with a pointed stare from behind her now violent crimson mask, "Wild Masquerade is not like any of the guilds you are used to. We are not popular and we _certainly_ don't try to be. As a haven for those who need to stay hidden, we should be devoted to remaining as _anonymous_ as possible. A public image is simply not necessary."

Rose nodded feigning understanding at the very least. Kami continued, "I'm not trying to stifle your creativity or squash your motivation to help out, but plans to change the status quo here are best forgotten. _For your own safety_."

The new member let out a sigh of thinly veiled contempt. "I understand." She stood to leave.

"If I could make a suggestion," the guild master added, "Go outside and join the others. You may learn a thing or two. Your time with us would be better spent making friends and allies, someone who won't judge you for you past."

 _I don't doubt it_ , thought Rose. _Anyway that stupid girl is down there with them. Even through that mask it's obvious. I should go and figure out what she's up to..._

She chuckled as she left the office to head outside. "See you soon... _Charlene Richards_ ," she muttered to herself.

* * *

Sterling and Paradox continued on, evenly matched. Hit after hit. Blow after blow. Morph snapped his head up suddenly and looked to the guild hall. He turned to Wyvern, shapeshifting as he did to look like a young, completely unremarkable teenage girl.

"Wyvern?" 'She' said, "Could you be a dear and take over reffing this match for me?"

The dragon slayer blinked. "S-sure."

"Thanks!" Morph bounced up on top toes and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. "There's something I need to take care of."

Wyvern watched the shapeshifter walk away, knowing that there was no point in trying to figure out what had brought it on. It always seemed that Morph had better things to do, or knew something vitally important days before the rest of the guild. It was disconcerting to say the least. Wyvern didn't care about many things, but not being kept in the loop wasn't one of them. As with many things, he blamed his childhood. Well... childhood before joining the guild anyway.

He checked the match timer. Seeing that they still had a while to go he looked around at the crowd. Aside from the usuals, Shiro, Slyph, Valentine, Confucius, Charles, Dreamer, Amaryllis and Valen, he could now see Phantom and Travesty back from their mission in Stonecrop, looking forlorn and mentally worse for wear.

There were many other guild members present he didn't know personally, but one red headed woman studying not the fight but Charles caught his attention in particular. He frowned. What was she scheming? The thought of a guild mate being under such unwarranted scrutiny upset him. Then again, Wild Masquerade was full of weirdos. It was probably nothing at all.

Though it gave him pause for a moment he shrugged it off as the match was now down to its final half a minute.

Sterling struck with a flaming hellfire punch. As she weaved out of the way and circled off to the other side of the ring, Paradox grinned. Being a pyromaniac wasn't the half of it, she seemed to take genuine glee from being around so much hellfire. It energized her and the longer the battle wore on the more she came out of her shell. Anyone paying attention would have noticed her teeth sharpened to points and the blackened scales creeping slowly across her collarbone.

He closed the gap between them once more and threw an uncharacteristically wild punch from her right. She ducked expecting him to lose balance as he followed through, leaving him open to a counterattack.

The bite of a hellfire blade across her stomach was the first she knew of her prediction running false. The strike sapped at her strength, forcing her to double over to protect herself from further damage. Sterling gave no quarter and pushed forward to an almost assured victory...

… when Wyvern announced they'd hit the time limit.

The pair left the ring just after his ruling, with Paradox hitting the ground first beneath Sterling and his full body tackle.

"It's a draw!"

* * *

Confucius twitched, clearly trying to stop himself from showing an emotional response when it wasn't strictly necessary.

He turned to Valentine. "Would you have predicted that?"

"You tell me?" She chuckled, "I'm not as into all this martial arts stuff as you."

"All magic is a form of martial art," he replied. It was an important distinction to make. Being a guild wizard meant following a certain lifestyle and even philosophy. It meant discipline. It had far more in common with martial arts than it did the cheap tricks of a magician.

"I'm just a gardener."

"I've seen you fighting off bandits many a time… Don't forget."

"Alright then, _smart ass_." She rolled her eyes. "But jobs like that pay my bills, so what are you gonna do?"

Meanwhile Slyph shrugged and pulled out a book. A draw was hardly an interesting outcome to him, at least not enough to warrant a comment. He sunk down into his scarf as he scanned the pages for the point at which he'd previously stopped.

"Even though Sterling could have won..." said Wyvern.

He thought for a moment, before tapping the magical board with the pen. The brackets shifted automatically as before. "I guess they're both in the next round."

He didn't know how else to call it.

With three matches to go and daylight starting to dwindle, Morph, Sterling and Paradox were in the second round.

Without Morph they wouldn't really be able to get through much more of the tournament—especially when it came to Wyvern's turn and managing what would happen after. Given that it would soon be dark most made the decision to call it a quits. There'd be plenty of time to finish off in the morning.

* * *

The crowd had soon thinned out. Slyph remained standing where he was, reading his book, apparently unaware of being more or less alone. Not that he seemed to care all that much.

Shiro had also stayed put for the time being. The guild was loud and noisy, and she wanted a few moments of quiet contemplation before the ruckus inevitably inflicted itself upon her once more. She looked over at Slyph, catching his attention momentarily and sharing a courteous nod of friendly acknowledgement. She then retreated back into her bubble, basking in the sounds of near silence.

Wyvern had gone to put the tournament board and box back inside, leaving a tired Amaryllis alone with Dreamer not far from Shiro and Slyph. She yawned and stretched, pushing her arms out in front of her and arching her back like a cat might.

"I think I might call it a night," she said.

Valen, sitting alert by her feet, scoffed. "You're young and it's early."

"You nap every two or three hours," she said, deadpan. "I think I'm allowed to rest every now and then."

He shrugged his shoulders, or as close as a his body would allow. "A cat has to do what I cat has to do."

"That's _always_ your excuse," she said, sighing.

Amaryllis turned to Dreamer, wondering whether she too wanted to go inside. The white-haired twelve year old stared into the middle distance with a glazed look in her yellow eyes. Amaryllis chuckled. Some thought or other must have caught her attention. Perhaps something to do with her fight against Morph even. She certainly wouldn't have blamed her. She could already see light bruises blooming around her neck where the shapeshifter had grabbed her.

Dreamer seemed to shift her gaze to Shiro, but with the very same far off expression. Amaryllis blinked. It was impossible to tell what went through that girl's mind. And yet other times you'd wish she'd keep her thoughts to herself.

The purple haired wizard shook her head and decided to leave it at that. No doubt Dreamer would find her own way to the dorms when she was good and ready.

"Come on, V," she said, walking towards the main entrance, "Let's go."

"Aye."


	9. Deadly Secrets - Ch01: Wyvern's Bad Day

**A/n:** You couldn't have failed to notice my lack of writing. Not going to lie or make excuses... I've had very little inspiration, and not just for Wild Masquerade. So I thought I'd treat those of who still care enough about this story of mine to keep offering words of encouragement. Thank you. You know who you are :)

This chapter is only a bit of what I had planned, but in the interest of publish SOMETHING this side of forever, here it is... "Something."

ENJOY!

* * *

 **31st August X792 - Wild Masquerade Guild Hall - 8:34 am**

Charles' fist collided with the requests board. Making everyone around on that bright early morning jump. She grunted and turned on her heels, heading straight back to the bar.

Kami, until then sitting on her own basking in the tranquillity of the guild without its louder members, raised an eyebrow. A light hint of a smirk played across her lips. "Don't you like what you see up there?"

"That _bastard_ took it… And he knew that was my job too."

"You have to get up pretty early to beat Phantom to the board, Charles dear," she said. "You should know that by now."

Charles frowned. She folded her arms in defiance, deciding not to say anything.

Nearby a newly arrived Paradox chuckled to herself. "You moron," she muttered.

Charles heard everything. "What was that?"

"I guess, _Charles dear_ , you'll just have to forget about going shopping today, seeing as how you Sony be earning any jewel," Paradox replied with a shrug of her shoulders. She focused back of her mug of coffee.

Kami sighed and shook her head. Peace and quiet was no doubt over for another day. Paradox was still recovering from her match against Sterling yesterday. Kami would have thought that meant she'd think twice about starting a fight today.

 _Guess again…_

The guild master stood and made her way to the stairs. "Good day ladies. I'll be in my office. Though I don't expect you'll need to bother me."

Like chastised children, the pair both turned to face away from one another with a resounding humph. Out of any authority figure either had known, Kami was the oddest. She got annoyed, and visibly so, but she never shouted. She had a way of controlling people simply by treating them as adults. When she said she didn't expect them to need her for anything it wasn't an observation, but and order.

They knew they'd be beaten.

Someone Charles didn't immediately recognize appeared beside her from the direction of the request board, making her jump. Again Paradox sniggered at the mage's moment of weakness.

The woman had bright orange hair, and wore a broken, black hockey mask. Although Charles couldn't place it, her eyes seemed painfully familiar. On the back of her hand was the guild mark. She must have been a new member.

"Hi?"

"Are you Charlene?"

She cringed at the use of her real name, but shrugged it off as best she could. It didn't have to mean anything. It really didn't. It was easy to mishear someone's name. Right?

"N-no… It's Charles."

"Oh, right. My mistake," said Rose, her expression blank behind her mask, if her eyes were anything to go by. "I have _absolutely_ no idea where I got Charlene from. My name's Rose by the way."

Charles tried her best not to gulp. Who was this woman? Did she know? She had such a familiar look and name about her that the mage's stomach was doing back flips as she tried to figure out where they could have met before today. Charles had been on plenty of jobs with the guild so far so hopefully it was nothing. Just a case randomly recognising each other and of getting a name wrong… But a part of her knew she'd have to keep her guard up.

Rose stared for a second or two longer, without saying a word. She then turned and walked away. "See you around, girls… _Charles_..."

"Any idea what that was about?" Said Paradox in a bored and couldn't care less tone. Her mind was already elsewhere.

"I hope not..."

* * *

 **31st August X792 - Oleander Town - 8:35 am**

Wyvern groaned. It was far too early in the day to be moving around, and to make matters worse his leisurely trip into town had a couple of tag alongs.

"I get why _you're_ here," he said, pointing to the Valin the tabby who'd come with for the simple reason that Amaryllis had. "But what excuse do you two have?"

Following a couple of steps behind the three of them were Confucius and Valentine. Valentine he had no problem with, she was too tall like her partner, but she was very easy to look at. The dragon slayer's eyes travelled down the woman's low-cut top to her cleavage. He couldn't help but grin.

"You have yet to repay your debt."

Wyvern cringed. He could not only hear the irritation in the monk's voice, but he could feel the magical pressure the man was exerting. Even though Valentine made no attempt to call him out on his ogling, Wyvern averted his eyes. Contrary to popular belief he didn't always go out of his way to cause trouble

As he turned his head back to the road ahead, his cheek met with a hard slap from Amaryllis, sending him stumbling.

"Pervert!"

He fell backwards over an uneven cobblestone and careened head over heels into a stack of barrels that stood outside the town's inn, the Fat Hermit. Rubbing the back of his head, he breathed a sigh of relief … mere moments before the empty barrels came crashing down around him.

Valentine giggled at the sight, her good natured smile never faltering. "Really, it's no trouble at all. He's a growing young man after a-"

Confucius stepped forward, blocking her from sight. His foot hit the floor, sending a wave of earth towards the downed slayer and knocking him out of the pile back into the road. The monk hauled Wyvern up by the back of the neck. "You must have more respect for women."

"S-she said she didn't mind…"

"Showing respect is not optional."

" _Boys,_ " Valentine hissed. She placed a hand on each of their backs. Her touch was light and gentle. Both felt their anger drain away. "I'm okay. Please don't fight here in town."

Wyvern backed off. He craned his neck to look past Confucius' bulk. Many townsfolk had stopped to stare, wondering what all the noise was about. The owner of the Fat Hermit, a large man making no attempt to hide his muscles, stood in the doorway beating a wet bar cloth against his hand like a whip.

The slayer hung his head. "Sorry…"

Confucius, despite being part to blame for the mess they'd made of the barrels, made no attempt at an apology. He simply nodded at the landlord, seeming to appease the man's anger somewhat. As annoying as Wyvern found it, he was thankful for Confucius' ability to garner respect wherever he went. He guessed either the simple religious robes or the stoic spiritual aura had something to do with it. Although, in all honestly, Wyvern had no idea how he did it. Was it magic? Was it something to do with his feng shui rock stacking? The more he thought about it, the more stupid that sounded.

Amaryllis took a deep breath and straightened herself up. "Such a child…"

"Oi! I heard that."

The purple-haired nature mage humph'd and continued on towards the town square. Valin trotted along behind her, and Valentine followed without missing a beat to worry about the boys. She always seemed so happy to Wyvern. Did she really not care if people perved on her, or was she that good at suppressing it?

Wyvern groaned once more. That morning would have been so much easier if the earth monk had stayed back at the guild. He'd get around to helping him restack his rocks at some point. For sure. He'd even go as far to promise.

But that didn't change the fact he found it so desperately boring.

Stacking rocks? Really? He was sure there was a reason behind it (Confucius never did anything without reason) but like hell could Wyvern remember.

* * *

Meanwhile, north in the town market, a second group of Wild Masquerade mages were on a supply run. The guild grew a lot of its own food and many of its mages were skilled craftsman, but for the things they simply couldn't produce themselves they relied on the townsfolk. With such an influx of new members, the shopping trip had come by a lot sooner.

Of course, a supply run in Wild Masquerade terms wasn't such a simple matter.

As he, Shiro, Slyph and Dreamer walked around gathering what they needed and loading it into their cart, Travesty looked around. People were staring. A lot. He wasn't used to people in town staring at him. In a matter of weeks he'd gone from just another kid living in Oleander to a total pariah. He was fairly confident no one recognised him, but he couldn't be sure.

As they passed by, a number of vendors even began packing away their wares. Was it more worth moving on than having to cope with guild mages hanging around scaring away customers?

The townsfolk were apprehensive, unsure how to take the mages of Wild Masquerade. They seemed to be able to deal with Slyph the most out of all his companions. The more the kid buried himself in his book and hid within his voluminous red scarf, the more they left him alone. Only occasionally would he ask a store owner for something, and, perhaps shocked that he could actually talk, they'd hand the goods over with a dumbfounded expression.

Shiro and Dreamer weren't having nearly as much luck. Shiro's shocking white hair and black blindfold mask alone was enough to make any young child scamper away, without even mentioning her standoffish attitude. At first she'd attempted to stay silent and let the younger mage do the talking, but when Dreamer started telling tales quite unfit for polite company she decided to take over.

Dreamer at the very least had a smile on her face, no matter what she did or was faced with. But for some inexplicable reason she'd decided to turn her hair blood red with her illusion magic and wear it in a style that reminded Travesty of tentacles. Her eyes were an equally disturbing red, causing all to double take. Shiro didn't look too happy with the twelve year olds choice of appearance.

Only a cursory glance at the list of supplies Kami wanted, told Travesty they had a long way to go.

He sighed and turned back to a store used by the local brewery to off load all the stock they couldn't peddle elsewhere. "Two kegs of the Vulcan's Brew, please."

The man running the stall didn't move a muscle. "Get lost."

Travesty had known him, in passing at least, all his life. He was the brother of the Fat Hermit's landlord. He'd always seemed quite pleasant but now? The mask seemed to get his hackles raised.

"We have the money to pay you," Travesty assured him.

"Your money's no good here," the man grunted, "How's I supposed to know where you got it?"

"The guild earned it." Travesty frowned. What kind of problem did the guy have? "Legally."

"Like I said, how can I be sure of that? I don't want no trouble, and no involvement with dirty money, see?"

"But it isn't-"

A less large, but somewhat more terrifying man, the stall owner next door, clamped his hand down on Travesty's shoulder. "The man wants you to scram, kid."

"I'm only trying to- it's just for-" Travesty hung his hand and shrugged the man off. "Ugh..."

Stupid thing was he too remembered being uneasy around the guild's mages before a … certain incident had forced him into hiding. To the outsider they looked like trouble makers, bandits, killers even. Now he'd gotten to know Wild Masquerade, and experienced the prejudice first hand he felt guilty, guilty for all the passive aggressive nonsense he'd pulled around them in the past. Very few of his guild mates deserved the reputation they had.

Except maybe Morph. That guy was unnecessarily unnerving.

Slipping away from the brewers stall, he regrouped with the others to look over their haul, or rather, how much they still needed to gather. Embarrassing was the word that sprung to mind... among others.

"We've got to do something about this..."

"But what?" Said Shiro. "It's the same every goddamn time."

"We're not going back with a half full cart," Travesty replied. "I won't be the one to explain to Kami."

Slyph looked up for once. "She doesn't expect us to get everything in one go."

"Just because you guys are getting complacent with it all, doesn't mean I have to." For a moment, he tracked a familiar group of local teens passed a hot food vendor and grinned. "Although I think I know _just_ what to do. Wait here."

Shiro, Dreamer and Slyph watched as he broke away from the group and tailed a trio of teens to an alleyway. Just as he passed into its darkness he slipped off his mask, and for a tantalizing second the Wild Masquerade mages saw his true identity.

The kid whose mother had not long ago been murdered by some psycho with a bow.

Shiro frowned. Even Dreamer looked sorry for him. Then again, everyone in the guild had their secrets, or else they wouldn't have joined in the first place, but it still sucked. In that moment Shiro could well appreciate why he'd so energetically insisted that they complete the entire list. It was almost as though he had something to prove.

* * *

Wyvern arrived at the fountain in the town square not long after the girls, with Confucius closely shadowing him. He hung his head in defeat..

"If I wanted awkward I could've just stayed home..."

Valentine chuckled. "But where's the fun in that? I thought you prefered being outside."

"Most of the time," he replied, jerking his thumb at Confucius. "Like when I'm not be tailed by this lump."

"He's good at that." The older pink-haired mage nodded. "Aren't you, dear?"

The monk's narrowed his eyes at the pair of them, but said nothing.

Amaryllis blinked and looked at the bizarre stand off before her. Wyvern clearly wanted to be somewhere else. Confucius apparently had nothing better to do than follow the dragon slayer around all day, and Valentine? Well, she couldn't figure out her excuse... Could anyone truly enjoy spending the day like this? It seemed like Valentine was genuinely enjoying herself.

She shook her head and was about to say something to perhaps diffuse the tension, when Valin piped up.

"Don't suppose you had a plan for after getting here? Stupid question."

"Why are you always making fun of me, Cat?" Wyvern squared up to the tabby, before realising how stupid that would have looked to the townsfolk. He relaxed. "To be honest, I don't have a plan. I was just going to see where the day took me."

"I have an idea in the regard," said an eerily calm Confucius

" _Give it a rest_!" The dragon slayer roared, small puffs of leaves bursting comically from behind his mask. "I said I'll get 'round to it."

"Boys." Once again, Valentine stepped in, leaving Amaryllis wondering whether she needed to be there at all. "Why don't we all go to a cafe and have a slice of cake?"

Wyvern raised an eyebrow. "That's one idea, I suppose."

Amaryllis sighed. She put on a bright facade and bounced forward to join them. She hoped a little enthusiasm would help them reach a decision. "Sounds like fun."

" **Fire-make: Plague!** "

Before anyone knew what was happening, thousands of tiny firefly-sized flames rained down around them like a shower of sparks, while other whirled around like a twister. One of the flames fell on Wyvern's arm guards. He hissed, and attempted to pat out the smouldering ember the attack left behind.

Confucius waved his arm in an arc over the group. A half dome of earth sprung up around them, like a curved wall leaning towards them, giving them shelter from the majority of the sparking flames.

"Three guesses who that is," said Wyvern, hunkering down behind the wall. The one thing he hated more than people trying to tell him what to do with his day off, was fire.

"Come on out, losers," came a female voice from the other side of the wall. "Come give Anna a rematch."

Confident the bulk of the Fiery Plague was over, Confucius lowered his shield. Sure enough it was Anna, Arden, Kin and the gang with at least ten other rag-tag dark mages, all sporting a black Spectral Hand mark. Anna's hands looked particularly burnt, which, for some reason, set Wyvern on edge. Could maker mages get hurt by their own magic?

Valentine shared a look with Confucius before turning to face the dark mage lady bandit. "Please. Don't use magic like that in town. You may end up regretting it."

Anna scoffed. Even though she was tall herself, she wasn't nearly as tall as the impressive figures of Confucius and Valentine, and the worry showed on her face. Nevertheless, she kept up her bluster. "And what are _you_ going to do about it?"

"She doesn't have to do anything," added the earth-mage monk, folding his arms. "Because this is a peaceful town, and I believe you were just about to leave."

Anna howled with laughter. " _Are you serious?!_ "

Confucius didn't say a word.

"Of course he is." Wyvern stepped between the pair.

Arden, arguably the dumbest looking bandit of the lot, smirked confidence. "Hey, you're that plant guy. Exactly what good are you against fire, dude?"

As infuriating as the comment was Wyvern had to agree. Three of the four of them used planet-based magic. Though Valentine may be some help in a fight, Amaryllis was more or less useless and he had no doubt that Anna chick could neutralize Valin in cactoid shell form in seconds. The only real chance they had was Confucius. The monk had no doubt made a similar assessment already, hence why he tried to stay as far in front of the rest of them as he could.

Wyvern chuckled nervously. _What a way to start the day…_


	10. Announcement 01

First off, sorry for posting an announcement here instead of the new chapter I'm sure you were all expecting... It sucks, but I hope you won't be too bummed out once you've heard what I want to say. Work is progressing quite nicely on the next chapter, and I hope to get it finished some time before I die haha! Seriously though, at this rate it should be out much quicker than the last gap, unexpected circumstances aside of course. So please look forward to that!

 **On to the announcement!**

I'm considering working on a little collaboration with another writer of Fairy Tail SYOCs here on FF, starring Wild Masquerade and some guilds from his story. Effectively this would put the two within the same universe and time period... Buuuuut there's a lot of details to work out between now and anything actually getting written, naturally, because we're both committed to doing this thing right.

I can't say exactly when you'll be able to read anything, but we're both eager and excited to give it a go!

So basically I'd like to ask you guys permission to use your OCs outside the confines of the main Wild Masquerade fic.

If you _don't_ want them used outside of this story then please drop me a PM **AS SOON AS YOU ARE ABLE ** and I'll make sure they don't appear in any future collaborative stories. Feel free to PM telling me you're happy with the idea too, if you like, but if I don't hear anything from you, I hope it's all right if I assume that you're basically on board with the whole thing.

If we can work out the particulars and get something written, then I'll post another update shortly revealing who I'm collaborating with, where you can read it, and exactly when in the joint continuity the stories take place.


	11. Deadly Secrets - Ch02: The Clawed Hand

Travesty couldn't help but feel some trepidation meeting his friends again after everything that had happened. He'd barely seen them, let alone spoke to them or told them how he was doing and what he was up to. He could only assume that Miss Xander and her strange hooded associate had "sorted things out" in that respect.

"Beza!" One of them called out, using his nickname, a shorter form of his real name Bezaleel.

"Where you been, man?"

* * *

 **31st August X792**

 **On a hill outside Oleander - 8:35 am**

Meanwhile, on a high vantage point just outside of town, crouched two men who couldn't have been more different from one another.

The first was Twitch Demos. The way he was sat his cloak lay crooked on his body, enough to show his thin arms and a tattoo of five claw marks directly below the Spectral Hand guild mark.

He knew he had to stay low in order to observe the town's inhabitants, like the master wanted him to, but that was like placing a pot of coffee in front of an addict and telling them not to drink it. It should have been simple. Wait for the right moment and strike before anyone realised what was happening.

His leg bounced beneath him as he fiddled with his anti-link dagger. They'd come so far to be here that it seemed stupid that there were still more people or links left in the magical web of spells that protected the deadly secret of Oleander.

"Guh… So boring!" He hissed. Hadn't their agent in town already dealt with them? Twitch had finished with his allocation days ago.

The second man was truly massive. Easily eight feet of pure muscle. With his chest bare his clothes consisted mainly of vulcan pelts and leather. Hanging from his belt and a strap across his chest were numerous skulls, both animal and human. His guild mark was on his chest in a red so bloody and covered in scars he might have given it to himself without the use of a magic stamp. Directly below it was a three claw mark tattoo.

"Jushiro agrees and would love to crack some heads," the man-mountain grunted, "but dad says we have to stay here."

Twitch looked at Jushiro the Skull, practically vibrating with frustration. "Well I don't like it. Sitting around... Just asking for trouble if you ask me. What if that light guild found us here before the others were finished with the barriers and shit, huh? What then, big man? What then?"

"Shimpy should shut up," said Jushiro.

He wasn't forceful, or at least didn't intend to be. Nevertheless, his size, demeanour, and reputation gave him an intimidating, murderous aura Twitch didn't want to mess with. Jushiro was a known and wanted dark mage, wanted for multiple murder-fuelled rampages across Fiore. You didn't mess with the Barbarian's moods. You just didn't.

"Heh… e-easy for you to s-say." The nervous mage glance over his shoulder and past The Skull. See no one was there seemed to calm him somewhat. "At least They haven't followed me here."

"Who's they?"

"Uh… No one?"

Jushiro frowned. Twitch could almost see the cogs turning in the man's head. Eventually the Barbarian spoke no doubt, Twitch thought,having decided he couldn't figure out what the other man was talking about.

"Stop being weird."

"Wait a sec.." Twitch said suddenly.

"Be still, or Jushiro will make you."

"Noseriouslylook," Twitch gabbled. He pointed down into the town in the direction of the market place. It wasn't hard to spot the mages of Wild Masquerade shopping, but one in particular caught his eye. Travesty removing his mask and walking out of sight and into an alleyway.

Jushiro noticed too. "That is the boy the Archer wouldn't kill."

"Uh-huh and his Ma was part of the organic link. That guild has been hiding him this whole time!"

The two shared a look. Twitch blinked and waited for his muscle-brained companion to say something. Jushiro stayed silent.

"The magic can be passed on, you big lug!" he said, adding, "It means there's a loose end, an unknown variable… This isn't good, not at all. That's why it's taking so long… Not good, not good."

Jushiro nodded, and lifted himself onto his feet. The mountain of man wasn't worried. He never worried. There was no problem that couldn't be solved with violence. "The master needs us to have the job done. We have to deal with this."

"GET DOWN!" Twitch screeched, hoping to God, Anna was distracting the goody goods as well as she'd boasted she could. 1) They needed to stay hidden, and 2) the better a job Anna did, the more time the Thief had to deal with the last of the links.

He moved to grab Jushiro and yank him back to a crouch, before he realised just how futile that would have been.

"Do what he says, big guy."

The Archer, Colm Cullough, joined them and knelt down on the other side of Twitch. He placed his quiver and bow beside him, well within reaching distance. Colm was a well dressed man with flowing golden hair and a penchant for silly hats and the colour green. He might even have been considered good looking if it weren't for the sleazy swagger with which he held himself. His green guild mark sat on his exposed left bicep, and below it, four claw marks.

Jushiro grumbled but ultimately did as he was told. "Thief girl had better finish cleaning up the leftovers. If she makes Jushiro wait any longer for the Signal he may have to kill something."

Twitch gulped. "I'm sure it w-won't be m-much longer..."

"I knew I shouldn't have let that kid live, and now he's joined that stinking guild." Colm sighed. "This whole mission is getting suuuper tedious..."

The other two nodded in agreement. Twitch needed something to do before he lost his mind with anxiety and Jushiro wasn't one for such subtleties. He preferred to do what he was good at, destroying things.

Still, not one of them was overly worried. They trusted their master's judgement and they trusted each other... more or less. But most of all they knew the final two members of the Five Claws of Spectral Hand, the Thief and their leader the Knight, would come through for them in the end.

"Don't worry," said Colm. "The Thief will deal with that Keres woman's kid. I'm sure she already knows he's hiding in Wild Masquerade, and if she can't do it… Well then we'll step in. Got it? For now we stick to the plan. So don't go getting all riled up on me!"

* * *

"Where you been, man?" Said Jin Ironbloom, a boy with a wild mane of red hair.

Travesty, or Bezaleel as his old friends knew him, shrugged. He didn't know how much he could say, or how much he wanted to say. These were his friends, at one time he'd have trusted them to the ends of the Earth. Now he found himself wondering, what if the bad guys were listening in? Could he really trust them knowing that shapeshifting magic was a thing? Were they still friends now he was on the other side of the mask?

"Laying low," he added finally.

"Well that sucks."

Travesty glanced behind himself, remembering his reason for tracking them down in the first place.

"I need your help," he said as he turned back to face his friends.

"Anything, Bez," said Mari Shen, a pretty blonde girl with her hair styled forward over one eye. "Name it."

"Just promise me you won't say anything about this to anyone. The guy who got ma… He's out there … Looking for me."

"Don't worry, we won't say anything," Said the first boy. Calling out to the rest of the group, he added, "Will we?"

Travesty smiled. It was nice to know they were still loyal despite the mask he held in his hand. "okay so..."

* * *

 **31st August X792 - Town square**

 **Oleander**

Mayor Brech flung open the large front door of the town hall in anger.

The impressive old building, with arched gothic windows and false columns, stretched along one full side of the square. The square that was currently the scene of a magical skirmish, between a large group of scruffy looking bandits, and a quartet of Wild Masquerade mages.

How dare they tear up his town? Didn't they understand the value of property? He knew he should have stuck his ground when that Kami woman asked for permission to build her guild just outside of town. Good old Miss Xander had assured him there would be no trouble from them too. Fat lot of good that assurance did. He'd even been stupid enough to let them work their protective magic and wards on the town.

Now this!

He was about to step in when a fiery eagle soared mere feet passed his head and singed the wall behind him.

"XANDER!" He roared. 'Where the hell is that woman? She should be out here dealing with this! What do I even pay her for..."

When she didn't come forth the mayor grudgingly turned back to the skirmish. He found himself overtaken with a morbid curiosity. He didn't know much about the mages of the local guild, but he could tell they were probably outclassed against the fire-wielding bandits. Of course, if he knew anything about them, it was that they were stubborn. He'd tried for years to relocate them to a different town to no avail.

This would be interesting.

Anna threw a second fire eagle, this time aiming for Confucius.

The earth mage threw up his hands. A chunk of cobblestone pavement rose up at his command and blocked the spell. He leaped out from behind the barrier and was upon Anna before anyone had a chance to stop him.

In a flurry of movement a swarm of stones burst from his fists. They jabbed into seemingly random points across her body, before disappearing. He landed behind her and folded his arms.

"What the hell was that supposed to be?" Anna rubbed at the spots the stones had hit her.

"It's a technique called **mantra stone point** ," he said. "Immobilisation magic, if you will."

"Oh right," she scoffed, "Cause I don't feel a-"

The Spectral Hand mage froze mid sentence. Her joints stiffened and in less than a second she couldn't move, or talk, only grunt.

"As I said," Confucius directed his words at the remaining bandits. "This is a peaceful town, and I have no qualms quelling any further offence."


	12. Deadly Secrets - Ch03: Intervention

**The Master's Office**

 **Wild Masquerade Guild Hall**

Master Kami stared out of her office window at the skirmish unfolding in the town below. Being on the highest floor of the main guild hall, Kami's office was the perfect vantage point for keeping an eye on Oleander. Even when it didn't want to be looked after…

She frowned, her mask and dress a sombre grey.

Spectral Hand had finally made their move. Which could only mean one thing… that they'd succeeded in removing enough organic links from the town's defensive spells to launch a head on attack without frying themselves.

As far as defensive magic went, Keystone, the guild's silent collaborator, was a genius. They'd weaved a truly ingenious spell that would simultaneously allow the use of magic and magic items, but stop them from being used with the express purpose of revealing any guild secrets. To thread it through an organic link, and a few other surprises, seemed like the perfect idea at the time… before so many people had died as a result, thus weakening it's power.

It was obvious they wanted to uncover the big one, the Grand Secret of Wild Masquerade, and she knew they'd do anything to get it. What she hadn't expected was such tenacity. They'd snuck in under the radar, despite the best efforts of Keystone, Morph and herself. She felt like a fool, a royal fool, but more than that she was angry.

How could they have gotten away with it for so long without her cottoning on? For that matter, how had they figured it out in the first place? Was it a case of being opportunistic and hoping for the best or something else? She'd never met Spectral Hand's master, nor had she heard a whisper about him, so she couldn't make an informed judgement on his motives. His mages on the other hand had reputations that preceded them.

It was infuriating! Here she was, a guild master, a powerful mage in her own right with all manner of tools at her disposal… Yet Kami had failed them, Wild Masquerade and the town. She'd made her bed and it was time to pay the price. Now all she had to rely on was her guild, and the firm belief that they'd do what she knew they could to put things right. The past was the past, and it would stay that way.

And if all else failed, there was always THAT.

 **::WM::**

 **Outside town**

Back up on the hill, three of the Five Claws of Spectral Hand watched the battle unfolding down in the town square. Anna threw out a few of her fiery eagles, missing practically every target, and not taking the opportunity to neutralise the THREE plant based mages. Her total ineptness had pulled their attention from surveilling the Keres kid.

Jushiro grunted his annoyance. "The fire lady is being weak."

"W-what is she doing?" said Twitch. He almost felt embarrassed for her.

"Overestimating her skills," Colm rolled his eyes, "by the looks of it."

"At least she's, uh, distracting them?"

The Archer shrugged and knocked an arrow out of his quiver. He fiddled with the fletching before checking its shaft wasn't bent out if shape.

The earthbending monk blocked Anna's attacks with a wall of rock, before leaping over it and taking her by surprise with a series of sharp, floating stone jabs. It took a moment to take effect, but soon she stopped moving altogether…

"That's IT!" The Barbarian shot to his feet, the skulls and bones dangling from his body jangling. "Enough of this weakness. Channel Cheetah!"

An yellow aura rose from his shoulders, expanding into the shape of a cheetah before sinking back into body.

"Woah, wait! Don't-" But before Colm could stop his hot headed guildmate, Jushiro was already most of the way down the hill to town limits and heading in the direction of the Wild Masquerade guild hall. The speed afforded to him by his Beast Channeling magic made him a lot faster than he had any right being. That's what made him one if the council's most wanted.

"DAMN IT!" He turned to Twitch. "Get down there and stop him."

"Uh, you sure I should be the one to-"

"No time to complain," he said, heading in the opposite direction. "I'm gonna make sure this whole thing doesn't go to shit before the boss gets here."

Twitch opened his mouth, but swiftly closed hung his shoulders, arms limp by his sides.

"Fiiine…"

 **::WM::**

 **Oleander Marketplace**

Shiro had grown increasingly aware, in the minutes since Travesty had left them, of the stares the three of them were getting. Nevertheless, as far as she could tell, she was the only one to noticed.

Slyph had buried himself in his book once more, content that he'd done all he could to gather supplies. He currently lent against a wall, oblivious to the world around him. He had most of his face hidden within the folds of his scarf, but the faint blue glow of the rune etched into his mask still lit him and his book. Shiro envied him, like she envied anyone with the ability to separate themselves from any given situation and retreat into their own world. She'd thought herself cursed. Cursed with the power of observation.

Dreamer on the other had was making eye contact with as many townsfolk as she could. It was amazing just how unnerving she could make a friendly hello sound... but then again, she had added a pair of fangs to her appearance since they'd first arrived.

Eventually the crowd began to thin, and at first Shiro thought it was the creepy twelve year old's doing. The unmistakable sound of an ongoing fight drifted across her senses.

I bet that's Wyvern, she thought, though immediately feeling guilty.

He was young, and passionate, and his feud with Confucius certainly didn't help matters. But even if the fighting wasn't started by, or involving, the guild's young Forest Dragon Slayer, it spelt trouble. Wild Masquerade could have done without trouble for one day. Lord knows they needed it. And after all, peace and quiet was the reason they'd joined the guild in the first place.

A town's person ran by saying something about mages fighting in the town square making Shiro frown. Whatever Travesty was up to, they'd just run out of time.

"Have either of you seen, Travesty?" she said. "We better wrap things up here..."

Slyph shrugged, barely looking up from his book. She rolled her eyes and turned to the girl who, in many ways, reminded her of her little sister.

"Dreamer?"

The illusion mage thought for a moment, before replying "Nope!"

"Oi! Over here!" came a hollar.

The trio spun around to see the man they were looking for standing at the opposite end of the marketplace with two carts full to the brim with the remainder of the supplies.

"Come on," she said, guiding the other two over to Travesty.

When they joined him they all saw just how much stuff he'd managed to buy.

Shiro nodded in appreciation for the man's talents. "However you did it, you've certainly solved our problem."

Travesty shrugged, "It helps when you know a few people in town. What can I say…?"

Dreamer bounced up on her heels, shoving her face dangerously close to the long-haired teenager. "Do you think you could get me a nice, sharp sword?"

He blinked and stumbled back into one of the carts, unable to answer. An apple rolled out of its container and smashed to a pulp on the cobblestones below.

"I dread to think what you need a sword for…" said Shiro, shaking her head.

"For defence," Dreamer confirmed. Her ever present grin hardly helped to dissuade the idea she was up to no good.

"You're twelve and you've only been on one official job," said Shiro. "You don't need a sword."

"Can I borrow one of yours?"

"No."

A skidding of feet accompanied by a nervous gulp yanked their attention away from Dreamers' worrying new obsession.

A gaunt man with a shock of unkempt hair stood like a deer in headlights, like he'd been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. He looked over his shoulder, before scratching his arm. A nervous tick, no doubt. Now clearly visible on his arm was his guild mark and tattooed claw rating.

"Uh… H-hi," he said, "Have any of you seen a, a big guy with loads of skulls on his- hmm… yeah nevermind."

Shiro could spot the mark of a mage guild a mile off. This one, an open palm with a wispy tail where the wrist should be and two orbs floating next to it, she didn't recognised. Though she didn't like to generalise, he didn't look that trustworthy.

"Who are you?"

"Call me Twitch," he blurted, "Twitch Deimos, but I should really get out of here-"

"Got a place to be then… with this 'big guy' of yours?"

Slyph slid his book back into his jacket and finally opened his mouth. "He's a member of Spectral Hand. A dark guild."

Dreamed nodded in agreement, "Oh yeah, and we met some of them on our last job."

Twitch lolled his head forwards and sighed.

"Guess the secrets out… **Ghost Strike**."

The quartet of Wild Masquerade mages raised an eyebrow at those words, but soon wished they hadn't hesitated.

From out of nowhere, Shiro and Dreamer found themselves knocked off their feet. Slyph was pushed back into the wall he'd just been about to lean on, hard enough to leave a dent and push all the oxygen out of his lungs. Meanwhile, Travesty was nowhere to be seen. Had the sudden attack thrown him clear out of sight?

Shiro snapped her eyes back to the dark mage. Head still tipped forward, he hadn't moved a muscle. Then his shoulders shuddered. After a while, Shiro realised he was laughing at them. A grating, awkward laugh.

"My God, you mask-wearing freaks are sooo easy to mess with!" He broke out into a bellowing roar of laughter.

Getting her hands under her body, Shiro pushed herself to her feet.

… Or would have done if an invisible force hadn't slammed her back into the ground. Slyph and Dreamer seemed to have the same problem.

"You're manipulating Ethernanos…" croaked Slyph, once again the fountain of knowledge, "aren't you?"

Twitch shrugged. "That's, uh, what my friends tell me. I just call it telekinesis!"

Lifting his hand skyward, the ground beneath the began to shake. The gritted expression on his face told Shiro how much energy he was spending casting his next spell. They needed to move. Quickly. But still Twitch's telekinetic Ghost Strike had them pinned. Half the cobblestones in the market ripped themselves from the ground. Dozens of fruit and veg, and anything else not nailed down, also rose into the air.

"You freaks are gonna love this," boasted the Spectral Hand mage. " **Pelting Vol** -Erk!"

Before Twitch could finished his spell, Travesty sprung from the shadows beneath a market stall. The shadow swirling around his fists coalesced into a giant hammer which he used to smack the mage off his feet.

The ghostly force pinning Slyph and the girls disappeared and the trio jumped up, avoiding falling stones and produce.

"I've got this one, guys," said Travesty, "You should go back and get Kami or Morph. I think Oleander is under attack."

Shiro nodded, "Right. Come on, you two."

As the others made a run for it, Twitch had managed to find his footing and his breath. Gone was the nervous, uneasy expression he'd arrived with, replaced instead with one of anger and fierce determination. It looked like this mage wasn't used to getting beaten.

"You'll pay for that, Bezaleel Keres" said Twitch.

Travesty's skin went white. "You know my, uh, name…?"

"Oh, what don't I know about you?" The dark mage continued. "I know you recently lost your mother."

"Don't you dare!" The shadow-make mage clenched his fists, trying his best not to let the taunting get to him.

"Oh and I remember now, yeah, my friend says he made a mistake letting you go unscathed. Should have killed you too."

Travesty saw red. He let out an animalistic roar and flung himself at Twitch.

" **Shadow-make: Hammer!** "

 **::WM::**

 **The Training Meadow**

 **Wild Masquerade Guild Hall**

Meanwhile, on the other side of town, the Barbarian, Jushiro, skidded to a halt. His feet gouged deep trenches in the grass to slow him down from his magical enhanced speed boost. The cheetah-shaped aura floating above his shoulders dissipated.

He bared his teeth in an approximation of a grin. "While Fire Lady makes a fool of herself, Jushiro will have his fun beating this secret out the goody-goods."

At the same time Jushiro arrived at the guild looking for blood, Sterling and Phantom strolled out of the forest on the other side of the meadow.

They'd both been on separate jobs but found themselves sharing the same path home through the forest. Though neither were much interested in having company, they didn't shy away from it.

"Sounds like you had a productive day," said Phantom.

Sterling chuckled at that. "Well… I mean after they got over my mask, it was a piece of cake, really."

Phantom stopped abruptly and jammed his arm out in front of Sterling, forcing him to stop or risk falling over.

"Hey, what are you-"

The older black-haired mage cut himself off as he spotted the reason Phantom had stopped him.

Confucius aside Sterling had never seen a man as big as the barbaric-looking hulk of a man stomping his way towards the pair of mages. The trophy skulls and scars told him all he needed to know, even before he clocked the man's Spectral Hand guild mark.

Phantom had already drawn his sword, and swung it out in an preemptive strike.

" **Phantom Wave!** "

A fast moving wave of blue flame shot from his blade and struck the massive dark mage in the chest. Unfortunately the attack had no effect, and the man kept moving closer. By this point he was close enough that they could hear his voice.

"If that's the _best_ you can do, the Skull is gonna smash you into little teeny pieces!"

" **Recall: Blue Surge.** "

Sterling's body crackled with the tell-tale lightning that all his guildmates had learnt to recognise. He disappeared, catching Jushiro completely off guard when he reappeared inside the man's reach and delivered a strong punch to the gut. Although it had little physical effect, Sterling kept up the assault, blinking here and there with the power of his stolen magic, raining blows down upon the hulk as fast as he could.

Phantom used the time Sterling's attack afforded him to cast a spell of his own. " **Path Light, show me how I might... beat this opponent.** "

With a swipe of his sword, three will-o-wisp motes of blue flame zipped forward. They circled Jushiro a few times-though he was too preoccupied with Sterling to notice, or care-before dashing back towards Phantom. One after the other they fell to the ground on a spot about ten metres equidistant between him and the unfolding battle.

A plan instantly formed in his head.

"Sterling," he yelled, "Get over here!"

The blue lightning sizzled the air as the not-quite-S-Class mage reappeared beside him.

"What's the plan?"

Phantom cracked a smile. "All we have to do is get him to bring the fight to us."

 **::WM::**

 **A dark alley**

 **Downtown Oleander**

Travesty's friends Jin Ironbloom and Mari Shen sat huddled on a pair of crates behind the Fat Hermit. They spoke in hushed voices.

"Are you sure this is the right thing to do?" said Mari. Whatever plan of action she was struggling with it had her stomach tied in knots. "I mean … it's Bez. We were kids together."

Jin cast his eyes back to the ground. "Don't you think I know that?"

A masculine voice spoke to them from deep within the no doubt magically enhanced shadows. "Do this job for me, and I swear I'll make it worth your while."

The pair shared a glance.

"I don't know..." said Mari.

She stood and paced away into the light, but stopped short of leaving. She turned back to her best friend, Jin, looking for any sign of support in his eyes.

A hardened expression crossed his face.

"Mari… Whoever that masked freak is, he isn't Bezaleel Keres. At least not any more. Not really. He's been turned by that damn guild… and they keep bringing danger down on us. The town is better off without them."

Mari sniffed back a tear. "Okay… We'll do it."

Jin nodded and turned back to the shadowed man, "You heard what she said, but promise me something."

"Fine," the voice said, clearly frustrated with their hesitation and now their added demands. "What is it?"

"Whatever your beef is with Beza, don't hurt him. Got that?"

The voice chuckled. "You couldn't stop me from killing him if you tried - but very well, I agree to your terms."

"Thank you," said Mari, rejoining Jin as though she needed his physical proximity to bolster her resolve.

"Alright… so run the plan past us one more time," he said.

 **::WM::**

 **Authors Note:**

 _Hey! It's been a while since I've updated Wild Masquerade, so I'm not expecting to have too many readers any more..._

 _That being said, I couldn't bare to leave it hanging like I had. So I'm going to make an effort to push forward and get this arc finished at the very least. I'm not sure where I'm going to be going with WM after that mainly as I've committed myself to another SYOC fic in the meantime... but watch this space!_


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